COMMEMORATION 


TWENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY 


OF    THE    SETTLEMENT 


JOHN    A.    ALBRO,    D.D., 


AS  PASTOR  OF 


THE    TIKST    CHUKCH  AND  SHEPAKD    SOCIETY, 


CAMBRIDGE,   MASS. 


CAMBEIDGE: 

PRINTED    BY    ALLEN    AND     F  A  R  N  II  A  M  . 

18  6  0. 


BX7I50 
.C2F5 

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COMMEMORATION 


TWENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVERSARY 


OF    THE    SETTLEMENT 


JOHN     A.    ALBEO,    D.D 


AS  PASTOB  OF 


THE    FIRST    CHURCH   AND   SHEPARD    SOCIETY, 


CAMBRIDGE,   MASS. 


CAMBRIDGE: 

PRINTED  BY  ALLEN  AND  EARN  II  AM 

1  8  G  0. 


PRELIMINARY    NOTE. 


An  informal  meeting  of  several  gentlemen  connected  with  the  Shepard 
Congregation  and  Society,  was  held  in  the  vestry  room  of  the  church,  to 
consider  what  measures  should  be  taken  to  commemorate  the  25th  anni- 
versary of  the  settlement  of  Dr.  Albro.  After  a  full  discussion  it  was  decided 
to  call  a  meeting  of  the  congregation  and  leave  the  matter  to  their  decision. 
A  meeting  was  accordingly  called  and  held  in  the  chapel,  Wednesdajr 
evening,  March  28th,  and  duly  organized  by  the  choice  of  a  chairman 
and  a  secretary.  The  object  of  the  meeting  being  stated,  and  unanimously 
approved,  the  two  following  votes  were  passed  : 

Voted,  That  it  is  expedient  and  desirable  that  public  services  be  held  in 
the  church  on  the  evening  of  the  18  th  of  April  next,  in  reference  to  the 
25th  anniversarj'  of  the  settlement  of  our  pastor. 

Voted,  That  a  committee,  with  full  powers,  be  appointed  to  make  all 
necessary  arrangements  for  such  services ;  whereupon  the  following  named 
gentlemen  were  chosen,  namely,  Charles  T.  Russell,  S.  T.  Farwell,  Joel 
Parker,  Emory  Washburn,  Charles  W.  Homer,  William  Saunders,  Zelotes 
Hosmer,  George  L.  Ward,  James  P.  Melledge,  John  Merrill,  William  A. 
Brewer,  George  S.  Saunders,  Arthur  Merrill,  and  N.  D.  Sawin. 

This  committee  met  at  an  early  day,  and  organized  by  the  choice  of  Hon. 
S.  T.  Farwell  as  chairman,  and  Geo.  L.  Ward  as  secretary.  An  outline  of 
the  plan  of  exercises  for  the  celebration  was  submitted,  and  agreed  to,  and 
arrangements  made  for  carrying  out  the  same. 


After  the  commemorative  exercises,  Monday  evening,  April  23d,  a  meet- 
ing of  the  committee  of  arrangements  was  held  in  the  vestry  of  the  church, 
when  it  was  decided  to  print,  in  a  convenient  form,  the  proceedings  of  the 


celebration  and  S.  T.  Farwell,  Geo.  L.  Ward,  and  W.  A.  Saunders  were 
appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  same,  with  instructions  to  solicit  of  Dr. 
Albro  a  copy  of  his  sermon  preached  Sabbath  morning,  the  15th  inst.,  the 
anniversary  of  his  settlement,  for  publication  with  the  proceedings.  The 
following  note  was  accordingly  addressed  to  Dr.  Albro:  — 

Cambridge,  April  25,  1860. 
Dear  Sir, —  The  undersigned,  in  behalf  of  the  committee  of  arrange- 
ments for  commemorating  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  your  settlement 
and  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Society,  beg  leave  to  recpiest  of  you 
a  copy  of  your  sermon  preached  on  the  15th  inst.,  for  publication. 

Very  truly  yours, 

S.  T.  Farwell, 
George  L.  Ward, 
William  A.  Saunders. 
To  Rev.  J.  A.  Albro,  D.  D. 


Cambridge,  May  1,  1860. 
Gentlemen,  —  The  sermon  delivered  on  the  15th  of  April  last,  of 
which  you  request  a  copy,  is  at  your  disposal.  I  am  glad  that  it  is  accept- 
able to  those  whom  you  represent.  May  the  great  truth  which  it  was 
designed  to  unfold  be,  in  all  future  time,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  the 
strength,  the  confidence,  and  the  hope  of  the  church  and  people  to  whom 
it  was  addressed. 

Very  truly  and  affectionately  yours, 

J.  A.  Albro. 
To  Messrs.  S.  T.  Farwell,  Geore  L.  Ward,  W.  A.  Saunders. 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


S  E  E  M  0  N 


DELIVERED   IN 


THE  SHEPARD  CHURCH,  CAMBRIDGE, 


APRIL     15,     1860. 


By    JOHN    A.    ALBRO,    D.D. 


SERMON. 


EPHESIANS  2:  20-22. 

"  And  are  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself 
being  the  chief  corner  stone  ;  in  whom  all  the  building  fitly  framed  together,  groweth 
unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord ;  in  whom  ye  also  are  builded  together  for  a  habi- 
tation of  God  through  the  spirit." 

It  was  a  custom  among  the  ancient  people  of  God, 
to  consecrate  and  render  forever  memorable  all  places 
where  special  mercies  and  deliverances  had  been 
received,  by  erecting  monuments  and  inscribing  upon 
them  the  name  of  that  God  by  whom  the  blessings  had 
been  granted.  Thus  Abraham,  when  a  lamb  had  been 
accepted  for  a  sacrifice  instead  of  his  son,  engraved 
upon  the  altar,  "  Jehovah-jireh,"  —  the  Lord  will  pro- 
vide. Thus  Jacob  took  the  stone  which  had  been  his 
pillow  during  the  sleep  in  which  he  had  seen  visions  of 
heaven,  and  set  it  up  for  a  pillar,  calling  it  "  Bethel,"  — 
the  house  of  God.  Thus  Moses,  when,  in  answer  to  his 
importunate  and  persevering  prayer,  the  Amalekites 
had  been  defeated  in  battle,  built  an  altar  and  called 
the  name  of  it  "  Jehovah-nissi,"  —  the  Lord  our  banner. 
Thus  Samuel,  when  the  men  of  Israel  smote  the  Philis- 


tines  and  pursued  them  to  Beth-car,  set  up  a  monu- 
ment between  Mizpeh  and  Shen,  and  called  the  name 
of  it  "Ebenezer," —  a  stone  of  help.  Thus  Gideon, 
upon  the  spot  where  he  had  seen  an  angel  of  God 
face  to  face,  and  received  a  divine  commission  to  save 
Israel  from  the  oppression  of  the  Midianites,  built  an 
altar  and  called  it  Jehovah-Shalom,  —  the  Lord  send 
peace.  So  wye  have  met  to-day  to  commemorate, 
with  fitting  service,  the  loving-kindness  of  our  God  to 
us  as  a  church  and  people  during  the  years  that  are 
past.  We  would  rear  a  monument  to  divine  Grace, 
and  inscribe  upon  it,  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped  us. 

Just  twenty-five  years  ago  to-day,  a  little  later  in  the 
day,  I  stood  in  this  holy  place  for  the  first  time  as  the 
installed  pastor  of  this  church,  and  received  from  a 
venerable  council  the  solemn  charge  to  feed  this  flock  of 
God  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  his  ministers,  had 
made  me  overseer.  I  have  great  reason  publicly  and 
gratefully  to  thank  God  that  he  has  continued  my  life, 
health,  and  opportunities  to  serve  him  in  the  gospel  of 
his  grace  for  so  long  a  period,  and  through  so  many 
vicissitudes  and  temptations.  A  quarter  of  a  century  ! 
More  than  one  third  part  of  the  whole  allotted  time 
of  man  upon  the  earth,  and  a  very  large  portion  of  our 
active  life. 

I  have  often  heard  it  said  by  the  aged  that  time, 
however  long  it  may  seem  in  the  passing,  appears  but 
as  a  point,  when  it  has  once  fallen  into  the  abyss  of 
eternity.     But  to  me  it  does  not  seem  so.     The  years 


9 


that  I  have  spent  in  this  ministry  are,  in  remembrance, 
many  and  long ;  and  the  space  they  have  occupied  in 
my  history,  has  an  apparently  interminable  perspective. 
We  measure  time,  not  by  days,  weeks,  months,  and 
years,  which,  when  gone  by  do  indeed  appear  like  mere 
j)oints,  but  by  thoughts  and  feelings,  by  fears  and  hopes, 
by  solicitudes  and  enjoyments,  by  labors  and  failures, 
by  desires  and  disappointments,  which  mark  the  flying 
hours  as  they  pass,  with  an  ineffaceable  impression, 
and  sometimes  make  days  seem  like  months,  and 
months  like  years! 

It  is  not  often  desirable  or  proper,  —  always  embar- 
rassing, and  sometimes  hazardous,  —  for  a  man,  especial- 
ly a  minister  of  the  gospel,  to  speak  of  himself,  and  of 
his  own  works.  In  the  sanctuary,  the  life,  the  labors, 
and  the  honor  of  the  Master,  not  of  the  servant,  should 
be  the  theme  of  discourse  ;  and  every  moment  spent  in 
talking  of  ourselves,  is,  in  general,  so  much  precious 
time  misused,  and  lost.  Yet  there  are  occasions  on 
which  it  may  be  suitable  for  a  pastor  to  make  his  own 
ministry  the  subject  of  brief  remark.  The  author  of 
my  text  did  so  more  than  once  in  his  epistles  to  the 
primitive  churches;  and  from  his  exposition  of  per- 
sonal feelings,  trials,  and  efforts,  we  derive  some  of 
the  most  useful  lessons  and  encouragements  of  the 
gospel.  That  which  was  necessary  or  proper  for  him, 
may  be  justifiable  in  any  of  his  successors  in  the  sacred 
office,  if  they  speak  with  the  same  motive,  and  for  the 

same  end.     Let  me,  then,  make  a  ministry  longer  than 

9 


10 


that  of  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  the  subject  of  a 
brief  reference.  First,  however,  let  me  refresh  your 
minds  with  some  passages  in  the  earlier  history  of  the 
church  with  which  I  have  been  so  long,  and  so  happily 
connected,  presenting  as  they  do  some  facts,  which, 
most  interesting  in  themselves,  ought  to  be  engraved 
deeply  upon  the  memory  of  all  its  members  in  all  com- 
ing generations. 

This  church  was  gathered  on  the  first  day  of  Febru- 
ary, 1636,  0.  S.,  almost  two  and  a  quarter  centuries  ago, 
in  a  house  which  stood  upon  the  adjacent  street,  a  few 
rods  south-west  from  the  place  where  we  are  now 
assembled,  amidst  a  great  and  deeply  interested  con- 
gregation composed  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  colony. 

Its  materials  were  a  small  company  of  pious  persons 
who  had  fled  from  their  hardships  and  persecutions  in 
England  to  find  a  home,  and  to  erect  an  altar  to  the 
Lord,  in  this  western  world,  then  inhabited  only  by 
wild  beasts  and  savages.  The  whole  number  of  male 
members  who  publicly  entered  into  covenant  at  that 
time  was  but  seven  besides  the  pastor.  The  following 
account  of  that  transaction,  given  by  Winthrop,  a 
spectator  of  the  scene,  though  already  familiar  to 
many  who  hear  me  to-day,  is  too  graphic  and  inter- 
esting to  be  passed  over  in  silence. 

u  Divers  good  Christians,  lately  come  out  of  Eng- 
land, intending  to  raise  a  church-body,  came  and  ac- 
quainted the  magistrates  therewith,  who  gave  their 
consent.     They  also  sent  to  the  neighboring  churches 


11 


for  their  elders  to  give  their  assistance  at  a  certain 
clay  at  Newtown,  when  they  should  constitute  their 
body.  Accordingly,  on  this  day  there  met  a  great 
assembly,  where  the  proceeding  was  as  followeth : 
Mr.  Shepard  and  two  others,  who  were  to  be  chosen 
to  office,  sat  together  in  the  elder's  seat.  Then  the 
elder  of  them  began  with  prayer.  After  this,  Mr. 
Shepard  prayed  with  deep  confession  of  sin,  and  ex- 
pounded Eph.  5  :  27,  and  also  opened  the  cause  of 
their  meeting.  Then  the  elder  desired  to  know  of 
the  churches  assembled  what  number  were  needful  to 
make  a  church,  and  how  they  ought  to  proceed  in  the 
action.  Whereupon  some  of  the  ancient  ministers,  con- 
ferring shortly  together,  gave  answer,  that  the  Scrip- 
ture did  not  set  down  any  certain  rule  for  the  number. 
Three,  they  thought,  were  too  few,  because  by  Matt, 
xviii.,  an  appeal  was  allowed  from  three,  but  that  seven 
might  be  a  fit  number.  And,  for  their  proceeding, 
they  advised  that  such  as  were  to  join  should  make 
confession  of  their  faith,  and  declare  what  work  of 
grace  the  Lord  had  wrought  in  them ;  which,  accord- 
ingly, they  did,  Mr.  Shepard  first,  then  four  others, 
then  the  elder,  and  one  who  was  to  be  deacon,  who 
had  also  prayed,  and  another  member.  Then  the 
covenant  was  read,  and  they  all  gave  a  solemn  assent 
to  it.  Then  the  elder  desired  of  the  churches,  that  if 
they  did  approve  them  to  be  a  church,  they  would  give 
them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  Whereupon  Mr. 
Cotton,  upon  short  speech  with  some  others  near  him, 


12 


in  the  name  of  their  churches  gave  his  hand  to  the 
elder,  with  a  short  speech  of  their  assent,  and  desired 
the  peace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  be  with  them.  Then 
Mr.  Shepard  made  an  exhortation  to  the  rest  of  his 
body  about  the  nature  of  their  covenant,  and  to  stand 
firm  to  it,  and  commended  them  to  the  Lord  in  a 
most  heavenly  prayer.  Then  the  elder  told  the 
assembly  that  they  intended  to  choose  Mr.  Shepard 
for  their  pastor,  and  desired  the  churches  that,  if 
they  had  any  thing  to  except  against  him,  they 
would  impart  it  before  the  clay  of  ordination.  Then 
he  gave  the  churches  thanks  for  their  assistance, 
and  so  left  them  to  the  Lord."  * 

On  the  same  day  another  member  was  added,  under 
circumstances  peculiarly  interesting.  The  pious  and 
devoted  wife  of  the  pastor  elect,  wasting  away  with 
incurable  consumption,  and  worn  out  by  the  long  and 
tedious  voyage  from  England,  was  lying  upon  her 
death-bed.  After  the  public  services  of  the  day  wrere 
ended  u  we  came,"  says  Shepard,  u  to  her  chamber,  she 
being  unable  to  come  unto  us.  And  because  we  feared 
that  her  end  was  not  far  off,  we  did  solemnly  ask  her 
if  she  was  desirous  to  be  a  member  with  us,  which  she 
expressing,  and  so  entering  into  covenant  with  us,  we 
thereupon  all  took  her  by  the  hand,  and  received  her 
as  became  one  with  us,  having  had  full  trial  and  ex- 
perience of  her  faith  and  life  before.  At*  this  time, 
and  by  this  means,  the  Lord  did  not  only  show  us  the 

*  Winthrop's  Journal,  I.  179,  ISO. 


worth  of  this  ordinance,  but  gave  us  a  seal  of  his 
acceptance  of  us  and  of  his  presence  with  us  that 
day ;  for  the  Lord  hereby  filled  her  heart  with  such 
unspeakable  joy  and  assurance  of  God's  love,  that  she 
said  to  us  she  had  enough ;  and  we  were  afraid  that 
her  feeble  body  would  have  at  that  time  sunk  under 
the  weight  of  her  joy."  Such  were  the  precious  and 
lively  stones  with  which  this  spiritual  house  was  origi- 
nally constructed ;  or,  to  use  the  figure  of  the  pious 
Higginson,  a  handful  of  the  wheat  "  which  God  sifted 
three  kingdoms  to  find,"  was  then  gathered  into  this 
o;arner  of  God. 

The  church,  thus  gathered,  and  composed  of  such 
materials,  was  built  with  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  and 
tears  and  hope,  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Apostles 
and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief 
corner-stone,  where  it  has  stood  immovable  and  un- 
changed until  this  day,  amidst  all  the  currents  of  man's 
opinions  which  have  been  sweeping  around  it,  and  all 
the  changes  of  the  world,  which  have  essentially 
altered  all  our  institutions  of  a  similar  ag-e. 

Its  first  pastor,  and,  so  far  as  human  instrumentality 
was  concerned,  its  founder,  was  that  same  Shepard,  a 
man  of  whom  I  shall  not  be  in  danger  of  speaking  too 
highly.  He  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  those 
wise  master-builders,  who  gathered  the  original  churches 
of  this  Commonwealth,  and  to  whom  we  are  in  a  great 
measure  indebted  for  the  simplicity,  the  purity,  the 
strength,  and  influence  of  our  religious,  and  I  may  say 


14 


too,  our  civil  polity, — a  burning  and  shining  light  in 
this  candlestick,  distinguished  alike  for  his  learning,  his 
piety,  and  his  steady  zeal,  at  a  time  when  every  church 
in  this  new  world  was  blessed  with  a  minister  of  saintly 
character,  and  of  apostolic  power,  —  a  holy  man,  whose 
example  shed  a  sanctifying  radiance  around  him,  turn- 
ing the  wilderness  into  a  fruitful  field,  and  making  the 
desert  to  blossom  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  —  "a 
gracious,  sweet,  heavenly-minded,  and  soul-ravishing 
preacher,"  as  the  enthusiastic  Johnson  calls  him,  "  in 
whose  heart  the  Lord  shed  abroad  his  love  so  abundant- 
ly, that  thousands  had  cause  to  bless  God  for  his  in- 
fluence." Not  inferior  to  the  most  eminent  of  the  con- 
gregational fathers  in  intellectual  strength,  in  logical 
acuteness,  in  all  the  learning  and  literature  of  his  times, 
he  perhaps  excelled  them  all  in  that  fine,  beautiful, 
practical  spirit,  which  is  greater,  and  more  necessary 
in  the  church,  than  genius  or  learning,  and  in  contem- 
plating which,  we  become,  in  a  measure,  insensible  to 
the  powers  of  his  mind,  and  the  extent  of  his  acquisi- 
tions. Although  a  prominent  actor  in  scenes  of  con- 
troversy and  public  disorder  which  opened  up  all  the 
fountains  of  bitterness  and  wrath  in  unsanctified  hearts, 
such  was  his  candor,  charity,  tenderness,  and  humility, 
that  the  odium  of  persecution  never  attached  to  his 
conduct ;  and,  while  a  man  of  like  passions,  and  ex- 
posed to  the  same  temptations  as  other  men,  his  reputa- 
tion has  descended  to  our  own  time  as  pure  as  star- 
light. 


15 


When  the  fathers  of  the  little  commonwealth,  in 
their  piety  and  poverty,  had  resolved  that  there 
should  be  a  college  for  the  training  of  young  men 
for  the  learned  professions,  and  especially  for  the 
gospel  ministry,  "  to  be  a  nursery  of  knowledge  in 
these  deserts,  and  a  supply  for  posterity,  that  there 
might  not  be  an  illiterate  ministry  left  to  the  churches 
when  their  first  ministers  should  lie  in  the  dust,"  Cam- 
bridge was  selected  as  the  seat  of  it,  because,  through 
the  sound  teaching  and  powerful  influence  of  Mr.  Shep- 
arcl,  under  God,  this  church  had  been  preserved  from 
the  disastrous  heresy  of  Antinomianism,  which  was 
then  threatening  the  utter  ruin  of  the  church  in  Boston, 
and  had  begun  to  corrupt  many  other  churches  in  the 
colony,  —  and  because,  by  choosing  a  place  under  the 
ministry  of  a  man  so  sound,  so  orthodox,  so  able,  so 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  "  they  might  give  the 
world  to  understand  that  spiritual  learning  was  the  thing 
which  they  chiefly  desired  to  promote,  in  order  to 
sanctify  the  other  and  make  the  whole  lump  holy,  and 
that  learning,  being  set  upon  its  right  object,  might  not 
contend  for  error  instead  of  truth."  *  When  we  con- 
sider the  rich  Christian  experience  which  Mr.  Shepard 
attained;  the  sacrifices  which  he  cheerfully  made  for 
Christ  and  the  gospel ;  the  great  amount  of  ministe- 
rial and  other  labor  which  he  performed  with  feeble 
health,  and  amidst  manifold  difficulties;  his  attain- 
ments in  holiness,  and  in  knowledge  of  divine  things ; 

*  Wonder  Working  Providence,  p.  164. 


16 


the  able  theological  works  which  he  produced  at  a  time 
when  the  cause  of  truth  demanded  the  strongest  argu- 
ments and  the  profoundest  expositions  •  the  influence, 
felt  even  to  this  day,  which  he  exerted  in  edifying  the 
churches  of  New  England ;  and  all  this  before  he  had 
passed,  or  hardly  reached,  the  meridian  of  life,  we 
must  regard  him  as  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of 
the  church,  and  ever  hold  him  in  deep  and  grateful 
remembrance. 

Under  the  efficient  ministry  of  this  man  of  God, 
and  of  his  successors,  Mitchel,  Oakes,  Gookin,  Brattle, 
Appleton,  Hilliard,  Holmes,  Adams, — men  of  like  faith 
and  spirit,  —  this  church  has  not  only  remained  upon 
its  original  foundation,  but,  "  fitly  framed  together,  has 
grown  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord,  in  whom  ye 
also  to-clay  are  builded  together,  for  an  habitation  of 
God  through  the  Spirit."  Of  those  able  and  faithful 
ministers  who  have  been  the  instruments  of  edifying 
this  church,  all  of  whom  except  the  last-named, 
have  long  since  gone  to  their  rest  and  reward,  it  will 
not  be  necessary  at  this  time  to  speak  jDarticularly. 

Of  one,  however,  Dr.  Holmes,  I  will  take  occasion 
to  say  a  word  which  I  think  his  memory  demands  and 
deserves.  He  was  installed  pastor  of  this  church,  on 
the  25th  day  of  January,  1792.  In  1827,  after  thirty- 
five  years  of  faithful  labor,  and  of  uninterrupted 
harmony  between  the  church  and  the  first  parish,  with 
which  it  was  then  in  connection,  a  difficulty  for  which 
he  was  in  no  respect  responsible,  and  of  which  I  clo 


17 


not  mean  to  speak.,  arose  between  him  and  the  society, 
which,  after  a  protracted  and  painful  controversy,  re- 
sulted in  the  separation  of  the  pastor  and  the  church 
from  the  parish,  and  the  organization  of  the  Shepard 
Ecclesiastical  Society,  with  which  the  church  has  ever 
since  been  connected  in  the  worship  and  ordinances 
of  the  gospel,  according  to  the  established  princi- 
ples and  usages  of  Congregational  churches  in  this 
Commonwealth.  Up  to  that  time  the  history  of  the 
church  and  of  the  first  parish  had  been  identical. 
From  that  day  the  stream  divides  into  two  branches, 
to  flow  in  different  directions,  and  to  fall  into  the 
ocean  of  eternity  at  different  points.  The  church,  it 
will  be  observed,  was  not  disorganized  by  the  change. 
It  came  out  from  its  ecclesiastical  connection  a  whole 
and  complete  church  of  Christ,  with  all  its  officers  and 
all  its  ordinances.  It  separated  from  the  legal  corpo- 
ration, as  the  soul  leaves  the  body,  to  take  to  itself  a 
new  organization  more  in  accordance  with  its  nature, 
and  better  adapted  to  promote  its  design. 

On  the  21st  day  of  September,  1830,  the  Rev.  Ne- 
hemiah  Adams,  having  been  associated  with  Dr.  Holmes 
in  the  pastorate  of  the  church,  the  corner-stone  of  this 
house  was  laid  with  appropriate  religious  ceremonies. 
Under  that  corner-stone,  enclosed  in  a  leaden  box,  is  a 
silver  plate  with  this  inscription : 

To  Jesus  Christ 

and 

the  church, 

the  pillar  and  the  ground  of  the  truth. 


18 


And  while  laying  it,  the  senior  pastor  pronounced, 
with  a  clear  voice  and  confident  faith,  these  words : 
"  The  church  is  built  upon  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone. 
Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid, 
which  is  Jesus  Christ.  May  the  stone  which  we 
now  lay  be  a  true  emblem  of  the  great  corner-stone 
upon  which  the  first  church  in  Cambridge  was  origi- 
nally built,  and  a  pledge  of  its  permanent  continuance 
upon  the  same  everlasting  foundation,  Jesus  Christ,  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  On  the  23d 
of  February,  1831,  the  house  of  worship  erected  upon 
that  stone,  was  solemnly  dedicated  to  God  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

In  the  month  of  September  of  the  same  year,  Dr. 
Holmes,  being  very  infirm,  and  unable  to  perform 
statedly,  or  even  occasionally  the  duties  of  his  office, 
was  dismissed,  at  his  own  request,  from  a  ministry 
which  he  had  exercised  for  about  forty  years.  He 
preached  his  farewell  sermon  on  the  second  of  Oc- 
tober, 1831.  He  died  with  a  strong  faith  in  the  great 
doctrines  he  had  preached,  and  in  the  comforts  of  a 
hope  full  of  immortality,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  June, 
1837,  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

I  cannot  speak  of  the  Christian  and  ministerial  char- 
acter of  Dr.  Holmes  in  language  more  appropriate  or 
expressive  than  that  used  by  the  dismissing  council  in 
their  result.  They  knew  him  personally  and  well,  and 
they  say,  "  It  is  with  mingled  emotions  of  pain  and  sat- 


19 


isfaction  that  this  council  have  attended  to  the  business 
for  which  they  have  been  convened.  While  they 
deeply  regret  the  occasion  that  has  led  to  the  result, 
in  the  bodily  infirmities  attending  the  advancing  age  of 
the  venerated  and  beloved  pastor  of  the  First  Church 
in  Cambridge,  they  are  most  happy  in  the  reflection 
that  the  ministerial  character  of  Dr.  Holmes  is  un- 
spotted ;  that  he  has  been  enabled  by  divine  grace  to 
bear  the  peculiar  trials  to  which  he  has  been  called  in 
the  course  of  his  ministry,  with  exemplary  wisdom, 
firmness,  meekness,  and  patience  ;  and  that,  in  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  dissolution  of  his  pastoral 
connection,  a  spirit  of  union  and  harmony  has  been 
manifested  by  the  respective  parties  so  deeply  inter- 
ested. It  is  unnecessary,  they  say,  for  them  to  add 
any  thing  by  way  of  testimonial  and  recommendation 
to  a  character  so  well  known  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe,  as  that  of  the  late  pastor  of  the  First  Church 
in  Cambridge,  the  long  tried,  and  highly  esteemed 
friend  of  learning  and  religion.  His  works  are  his 
testimonial,  and  his  praise  is  in  all  the  churches." 

Dr.  Adams,  having  received  an  invitation  from  the 
Essex  Street  Church  and  Society,  in  Boston,  to  become 
their  pastor,  and  believing  it  to  be  his  duty  to  accept 
it,  was  dismissed,,  though  with  great  reluctance  on  the 
part  of  this  church  and  society,  on  the  fourteenth  day 
of  March,  1834.  And  on  the  fifteenth  clay  of  April, 
1835,  the  present  pastor  was  installed  in  his  place. 

I   came   to   }^ou   a   stranger,   having   occupied   the 


20 


pulpit  but  one  Sabbath  previous  to  receiving  your 
call,  and  was  received  with  a  unanimity,  affection, 
and  cordiality  which,  in  the  flight  of  years  and  the 
changes  of  the  world,  have  remained,  I  hope,  as  strong 
as  at  the  beginning.  I  came  to  you,  as  Paul  went  to  the 
Corinthians,  in  weakness,  and  in  fear,  and  in  much  trem- 
bling, and  you  encouraged  me  by  your  sympathy,  and 
bore  up  my  heart  by  your  affection  and  your  prayers. 
I  came  to  you,  not  with  excellency  of  speech  or  of 
wisdom,  and  my  preaching  has  not  been  with  enticing 
words  of  man's  eloquence,  for  I  determined  not  to 
know  any  thing  among  you  save  Jesus  Christ,  and 
him  crucified,  and  you  have  received  my  preach- 
ing with  respect  and  confidence,  many,  I  trust,  with 
a  faith  that  "  stands  not  in  the  wisdom  of  men, 
but  in  the  power  of  God."  I  came  to  you  in  your 
poverty  and  feebleness,  and,  as  the  Apostle  says  of  the 
churches  of  Macedonia,  a  to  your  power  I  bear  record, 
yea,  and  beyond  your  power,"  you  were  willing  of 
yourselves  to  assume  the  burden  and  the  responsibility 
of  supporting  the  gospel  ministry.  "  And  this  you 
did,  not  as  we  hoped,  but  first  gave  your  own  selves 
to  the  Lord,  and  unto  us  by  the  will  of  God."  I 
came  to  you,  as  the  disciples  were  sent  upon  their 
first  mission,  without  purse  or  scrip,  and,  like  them, 
I  can  tell  the  Master  to-day,  that  in  all  these  years 
you  have  permitted  me  to  lack  nothing. 

My  ministry  has  thus  far  been  the  longest,  with  the 
exception  of  two,  that  has  existed  in  this  church  since 


21 


its  organization  in  1636.  Dr.  Appleton  died  at  the 
age  of  ninety-one,  having  preached  the  gospel  to  the 
same  people  for  the  long  period  of  sixty-seven  years. 
Dr.  Holmes  died  at  seventy-four,  after  a  happy  and 
prosperous  pastorate  of  almost  half  a  century.  All 
the  other  pastors  of  this  church  were  taken  away 
in  the  midst  of  their  days,  and  their  respective  min- 
istries were  comparatively  short.  Shepard  died  at 
the  age  of  forty -four,  after  a  ministry  of  but  thirteen 
years.  Mitchel,  his  immediate  successor,  preached  but 
eighteen  years,  dying  at  forty-three ;  Oakes  but  ten ; 
Gookin,  dying  at  thirty-four,  but  ten  ;  Brattle  but  a 
little  over  twenty ;  Hilliard  but  seven ;  my  immediate 
predecessor  but  five.  These  all,  except  the  last-named, 
died  in  faith,  in  the  midst  of  the  people  to  whom  they 
had  broken  the  bread  of  life,  and  are  now,  we  trust,  in 
heaven,  worshipping  God  and  the  Lamb  with  a  mul- 
titude saved  and  glorified  through  their  instrumen- 
tality. 

During  my  own  ministry,  commenced  this  day 
twenty-five  years  ago,  many  and  great  changes  have 
occurred  among  and  around  us;  greater,  I  imagine, 
than  have  taken  place  during  the  same  length  of 
time,  in  any  former  period  of  our  history  as  a 
city,  a  State,  or  a  nation.  It  would  be  difficult 
for  a  person  who  had  been  absent  from  this  place 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  to  recognize 
this  house,  this  congregation,  or  this  city  even, 
as    the    same.      The    population    of    Cambridge,    at 


22 


the  time  of  my  settlement  about  G,000,  has  been 
nearly  quadrupled.  The  church,  then  feeble  and 
sorely  tried  by  the  pressure  of  outward  circum- 
stances, has,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  without  which 
no  ministry  could  have  been  successful,  become  strong, 
self-sustaining,  and  influential.  A  small  congregation, 
with  very  limited  means,  has  gradually  taken  its  place 
among  the  most  respectable  for  numbers  and  ability; 
and  this  house,  three  times  enlarged,  is  far  better  filled 
than  at  first.  The  doctrines  here  preached,  once  a 
stumbling-block  and  foolishness  to  the  wisdom  of  this 
world,  have  gained  a  position  and  an  influence,  both  in 
the  city  and  in  the  University,  which  inspire  us  with 
gratitude  and  with  hoj)e.  Death,  too,  and  fresh  life,  in 
their  continual  interchange,  while  they  have  not  de- 
stroyed the  identity,  have  greatly  changed  the  material 
and  the  form  of  this  congregation.  Fathers,  mothers, 
brothers,  sisters,  who  would  have  rejoiced  to  see  this 
day,  have  gone  to  the  church  triumphant;  and  fathers, 
mothers,  brothers,  and  sisters,  have  taken  their  places, 
to  carry  on  their  work,  and  to  follow  them  to  their 
rest.  But  five  or  six  male  heads  of  families,  who  were 
of  us  when  I  was  settled,  are  with  us  now.  Who  can 
estimate  the  change  which  all  these  removals  and 
accessions  have  made  in  the  history  of  this  peojDle; 
not  recorded,  indeed,  in  any  book,  but  recognized  and 
felt  in  the  experience  of  us. all? 

In  speaking  of  the   dead,  I  may  be   permitted   to 
refer  to  the  two  officers  of  the  church,  Deacon  Hilliard 


and  Deacon  Munro,  who  took  an  active  part  in  my 
settlement,  and,  indeed,  were  always  active  in  every 
good  word  and  work.  They  have  long  since  passed 
away  from  the  scene  of  their  labors  and  their  trials. 
Deacon  Hilliard  died  April  27, 1836,  and  Deacon  Munro 
on  the  29th  of  May,  1848.  In  many  respects  dissimi- 
lar, they  were  alike  in  their  love  of  the  truth,  in  their 
zeal  for  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  in  their  efforts  and 
sacrifices  for  the  welfare  of  the  church.  They  were, 
as  the  Apostle  says  that  deacons  should'  be,  honest, 
faithful,  and  good  men,  "  not  double-tongued,  not 
greedy  of  filthy  lucre,  holding  the  mystery  of  the 
faith  in  a  pure  conscience."  They  "used  the  office  of 
deacon  well,  and  purchased  for  themselves  a  good 
degree,  and  great  boldness  in  the  faith  which  is  in 
Jesus  Christ." 

But  upon  these,  and  similar  changes  that  have  taken 
place  among  us,  I  will  not,  and  I  need  not  dwell.  Nor 
do  I  desire  to  speak  much  of  my  own  labors  and 
experiences  during  this  long  period.  To  tell  you  of 
the  number  of  sermons  I  have  preached, —  of  the  pas- 
toral visits  I  have  made,  —  of  the  houses  of  mourning 
in  which  I  have  endeavored  to  perform  the  office  of  a 
comforter, —  of  the  number  of  those  who  have  been 
hopefully  converted,  or  added  to  the  church, — of  the 
funeral  rites  that  I  have  performed, — of  the  children 
I  have  baptized  and  dedicated  to  God, — of  the  mar- 
riages that  I  have  solemnized,  —  of  the  manifold  efforts 
I  have  made  to  build  you  up  in  the  faith  and  order 


24 


of  the  gospel, — would  exhibit  neither  the  significance 
nor  the  value  of  my  ministry.  External  and  historical 
facts  are  soon  and  easily  narrated  ;  but  the  true  mean- 
ing and  influence  of  those  facts,  do  not  always  appear 
upon  the  surface.  They  may  appear  imposing  while 
they  are  worthless.  They  may  seem  very  insignificant 
to  the  eye,  while  they  send  their  roots  into  eter- 
nity, and  bear  fruit  which  can  be  gathered  only  in 
another  world. 

I  have  no  disposition  to  contemplate  my  labors,  or 
any  results  of  my  labors,  with  a  spirit  of  self-gratulation. 
When  I  think  of  the  little  that  I  have  accomplished  in 
comparison  with  what  might  have  been, —  of  the  works 
done  often  in  sorrow  and  discouragement,  which  now 
seem  like  sowing  seed  upon  the  house-top,  "which 
withereth  before  it  groweth  up,  wherewith  the  mower 
filleth  not  his  hand,  nor  he  that  bindeth  sheaves  his 
bosom,"  —  of  the  infirmity  and  imperfection  that  have 
characterized  all  my  efforts.  —  of  the  secret  trials  and 
disturbances  by  which  I  have  been  continually  chastised, 
—  of  the  hopes  that  have  been  buried  far  back  in  the 
wilderness, —  and  of  the  account  which  I  must  render 
of  my  stewardship  at  the  bar  before  which  I  am  soon  to 
appear, —  I  feel  more  inclined  to  keep  this  day  as  a  sea- 
son of  humiliation  and  of  tears,  than  of  joy.  If  good 
in  any  measure  has  been  done,  —  if  any  soul  has  been 
translated  out  of  darkness  into  marvellous  light,  —  if 
the  cause  of  Christ  has  been  in  any  degree  promoted, — 
if  the  church  has   been  edified  upon  the  foundation 


25 


which  God  has  laid  in  Zion,  —  if  there  has  been  any 
comfort  of  love,  or  fellowship  of  the  spirit,  or  growth  in 
grace,  —  if  there  have  been  changes  among  and  around 
you  which  have  placed  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel  in 
a  more  commanding  position,  and  given  to  the  evan- 
gelical system  a  greater  influence  in  this  city,  —  I  can 
say,  with  deepest  self-abasement,  Not  unto  me,  but 
to  the  grace  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  be  all  the  praise. 
It  is  not  expedient  for  me  doubtless  to  glory.  If  I 
had  performed  a  thousand-fold  more  labor,  and  had 
seen  a  thousand-fold  greater  results  from  my  efforts, 
yet  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  —  the  consciousness  of  imper- 
fection and  unworthiness  in  all  my  ministry,  —  would 
effectually  subdue  any  tendency  to  self-exaltation. 
With  Paul,  but  at  an  immeasurable  distance,  I  will 
glory  only  in  Him  who  has  said  to  every  sincere 
though  feeble  instrument  of  promoting  his  cause,  "  My 
grace  is  sufficient  for  thee ;  for  my  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness." 

Instead,  therefore,  of  dwelling  any  longer  upon  my 
own  works,  it  will  be  more  profitable,  in  what  remains 
of  my  present  discourse,  to  turn  your  attention  to  the 
grand  object  of  all  my  labors,  and  to  the  means  by 
which  I  have  hoped  to  realize  the  end  of  my  ministry. 

The  Apostle  tells  us  that  the  church  of  God  is  "  built 
upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone,  in 
whom  the  whole  building,  fitly  framed  together,  groweth 
unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord."     By  this  figurative 

4 


26 


language  he  shows  you  what  doctrines  the  church 
believes,  upon  what  Saviour  it  relies,  and  with  what 
materials  it  is  built  up.  Those  doctrines  are  the 
great  truths  preached  by  inspired  apostles  and 
jorophets  whom  God  sent  forth  wTith  a  divine  com- 
mission to  show  unto  men  the  way  of  life.  That 
Saviour  is  Jesus  Christ,  —  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  — 
the  great  prophet,  priest,  and  king  of  Zion,  —  the  elect 
and  sure  groundwork  which  God  has  laid  for  the 
hopes  and  peace  of  his  people ;  and,  though  there  are 
foolish  builders  who  set  at  nought  this  precious  corner- 
stone, yet  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay,  than  that 
which  is  laid  in  the  perfect  obedience,  —  in  the  sacrificial 
offering,  —  in  the  redemptive  work, — in  the  justify- 
ing righteousness,  —  in  the  supreme  excellence,  and 
almighty  power  of  the  eternal  Word  made  flesh,  and 
giving  up  himself  as  an  atonement  for  the  sins  of  the 
world.  Those  materials  are  believers  in  the  doctrines 
of  apostles  and  prophets, — disciples  of  Jesus  Christ, 
taken  by  grace  from  the  mass  of  depraved  humanity, 
as  stones  from  a  quarry,  and,  by  the  transforming  in- 
fluence of  the  Holy  Spirit,  fitted  for  their  place  in  the 
spiritual  building,  and  made  meet  for  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light. 

Upon  that  foundation,  as  I  have  said,  this  church 
was  originally  built,  and  with  such  materials  it  has 
grown  to  an  holy  temple  from  age  to  age.  And 
whatever  of  infirmity,  or  mistake,  or  failure,  I  may  be 
obliged  to  confess,  this  I  can  say,  not  in  the  confidence 


27 


of  boasting,  but  with  humble  gratitude  to  God,  that 
I  have  preached  no  other  gospel  to  you  than  that 
which  Paul  preached  to  the  Corinthians,  and  Shepard  to 
the  fathers  who  are  now  singing  the  song  of  Moses  and 
the  Lamb,  in  the  temple  above.  Not  altogether  igno- 
rant of  the  philosophical  and  religious  speculations  of 
the  present  clay  which  many  regard  as  improvements 
upon  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles,  and  which  a  restless, 
and  somewhat  conceited  age  is  disposed  to  run  after 
without  much  reflection  upon  their  origin  or  their  ten- 
dency, I  have  endeavored  to  keep  to  the  old  paths  in 
which  the  saints  of  God,  in  all  ages,  have  gone  to 
heaven,  and  to  build  upon  that  foundation  which  God 
has  laid  in  Zion,  with  the  gold,  silver,  and  precious 
stones,  of  souls  converted,  and  sanctified  by  the  Spirit 
of  grace.  The  great  subject  of  my  preaching,  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  topics  of  a  merely  temporary,  or 
worldly  interest,  has  been  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  cruci- 
fied ;  and  with  this  alone  as  the  ground,  the  reason, 
and  the  power  of  my  ministry,  I  have  labored  to  per- 
fect the  superstructure  which  the  fathers  commenced 
in  this  city  two  hundred  years  ago.  And  God  forbid 
that  I  should  ever  in  the  future  know,  or  preach  any 
thing  among  you,  but  this.  Christ,  the  wisdom  and  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation, — Christ,  the  only  ground 
of  a  sinner's  justification  and  acceptance  with  God, — 
Christ,  the  vital  source  of  all  spiritual  blessings  and 
hopes,  —  Christ,  the  most  powerful  of  all  motives  to 


28 


holy  obedience,  —  Christ,  through  whom  we  have 
access  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  Father,  —  Christ,  the 
prophet,  priest,  king,  and  saviour  of  the  church,  is  all 
my  salvation  and  my  desire,  as  I  pray  he  may  be  of 
all  to  whom  I  preach  the  gospel.  Upon  this  founda- 
tion you  are  safe.  Every  thing  else  is  a  foundation  of 
sand. 

In  preaching  Christ,  however,  as  the  foundation  of 
the  church,  I  have  not  dwelt  constantly  and  exclusively 
upon  the  fact  of  his  incarnation,  of  his  death,  of  his 
resurrection.  I  have  endeavored  to  unfold  all  the 
doctrines  of  the  apostles  and  prophets  respecting  saints 
and  sinners,  —  the  covenant  of  grace,  —  the  way  of 
salvation,  —  the  Christian  life,  —  and  the  duty  of  the 
people  of  God, —  that  you  may  be  intelligent  and 
practical  believers  in  Christ,  and,  a  no  more  children, 
tossed  to  and  fro,  and  carried  about  by  every  wind 
of  doctrine,  by  the  sleight  of  men,  and  cunning  crafti- 
ness, whereby  they  lie  in  wait  to  deceive,  but  holding 
and  speaking  the  truth  in  love,  may  grow  up  into 
him  in  all  things  who  is  our  head:  from  whom  the 
whole  body,  fitly  joined  together,  and  compacted  by 
that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  according  to  the 
effectual  working  in  the  measure  of  every  part,  mak- 
eth  increase  of  the  body  to  the  edifying  of  itself  in 
love."  Or,  to  use  the  figure  with  which  the  Apostle 
sets  forth  the  glory  of  the  church  in  the  text,  "  that 
all  the  building  fitly  framed  together"  upon  the  true 


29 


foundation,  "  may  grow  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the 
Lord/'  and  that  every  believer  may  be  "  builded  in  it 
for  a  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit." 

I  have  spoken  of  the  great,  fundamental  truths 
upon  which  this  church  is  based,  and  of  the  ministry 
by  which  I  have,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  labored 
to  build  it  up  in  this  holy  faith.  Let  me  now  appeal 
to  you,  my  hearers,  —  not  for  a  witness  to  my  faithful- 
ness, —  not  for  a  testimony  to  the  value  of  my  labors, 

—  but  for  an  answer  respecting  the  effect  and  influ- 
ence of  this  ministry  upon  you.  Upon  what  are  you 
individually  building  ?  what  is  the  foundation  of  your 
personal  hopes  ? 

Taught  from  your  earliest  youth  the  doctrines  of 
the  apostles  and  prophets,  and  furnished  with  all 
needful  helps  for  the  understanding  of  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus,  it  should  be  your  first  and  deepest 
desire  to  receive  this  revelation  of  grace  into  your 
hearts,  and  to  transmit  it,  with  the  commentary  of 
your  own  experience,  to  your  children  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  You  believe  in  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  one  only  living  and  true  God,  Crea- 
tor, Redeemer,  and  Sanctifier,  into  whose  name  you 
are  baptized,  and  to  whose  service  you  are  dedicated. 
You  believe  all  the  distinguishing  doctrines  respecting 
the  character,  offices,  and  relations  of  Jesus  Christ,  — 
the  personality,  divinity,  and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 

—  the  sinfulness  of  the  human  heart,  —  the  terms  of 
salvation, —  the  future  judgment,  and  an  eternal  state 


30 


of  rewards  and  punishments  in  another  world,  —  pro- 
fessed by  our  fathers  at  the  organization  of  this 
church,  and  taught  as  essential  by  all  its  pastors. 
You  believe  that  those  doctrines,  unfolded  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  constituting  the  foundation  of  the 
church,  are  of  infinite  importance  to  every  soul.  This 
is  your  faith.  So  we  preach,  and  so  ye  believe.  May 
these  principles  be  taught  and  believed  in  this  church 
until  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  to  take  account  of 
his  servants.  "  May  the  father  to  the  children  make 
known  his  truth,"  and  "your  children  tell  their  chil- 
dren, and  their  children  another  generation."  And 
palsied  be  the  tongue  that  in  this  pulpit  shall  ever 
deny  the  Lord  who  has  redeemed  the  church  with 
his  precious  blood,  or  teach  for  doctrines  the  com- 
mandments of  men. 

But  remember  that  religion  is  a  personal  experience 
of  the  power  and  value  of  these  doctrines.  The  truth 
may  be  held  in  unrighteousness,  and  the  grace  of  God 
be  made  an  argument  for  impenitence  and  sin.  A 
merely  intellectual  faith  may  coexist  with  unholy 
affections,  and  a  soul  alienated  from  the  life  of  God. 
You  must  believe  with  the  heart  unto  righteousness, 
and  confess  with  the  mouth  unto  salvation.  There 
must  be  a  spiritual  harmony  between  the  convictions 
of  the  understanding,  the  assent  of  the  will,  and  the 
current  of  the  life.  Faith  must  purify  the  heart,  and 
overcome  the  world.  Hope  must  rest  upon  Christ, 
formed  in  the  soul.     Love  must  be  sanctified  by  a  coal 


from  the  altar  of  God.  Life  must  be  filled  with  the 
fruits  of  righteousness,  which  are  by  Jesus  Christ,  to 
the  glory  and  praise  of  God.  You  are  called  to  be 
saints,  not  merely  believers.  The  inscription  upon 
the  breastplate  of  the  pastor,  upon  the  church,  upon 
your  family  altars,  upon  your  hearts,  should  be  Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord.  Your  assemblies  for  public  worship 
should  be  holy  convocations.  You  should  come  to 
ask  the  way  to  Zion,  with  your  faces  thitherward. 
And  in  all  your  efforts  to  build  up  a  religious  congre- 
gation, you  should  have  supreme  respect  to  the  glory 
of  Christ,  the  chief  corner-stone. 

It  is  a  solemn  question,  then,  what  practical  influ- 
ence the  truth  which  you  profess  to  believe  has  exerted 
upon  your  hearts  and  lives?  Let  it  come  home  to 
every  individual  soul ;  and  let  no  one  give  sleep  to 
his  eyes,  or  slumber  to  his  eyelids,  until  he  has  evi- 
dence that  he  is  not  only  built  by  profession  upon  the 
truth,  but  that  he  is  builded  in  it,  for  an  habitation 
of  God  through  the  Spirit. 

My  hearers,  we  meet  together  to-day  upon  the  foun- 
dation of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone,  and  under  that 
banner  of  truth  and  love  which  has  waved  over  this 
church  from  the  days  of  the  Pilgrims  until  now.  We 
meet  as  pastor  and  people  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
who  is  head  over  all  things  to  the  church  which  he 
has  redeemed  by  his  precious  blood.  We  meet  to 
raise    a    monument    to    the    loving-kindness    of    the 


32 


Lord,  who,  amidst  many  errors  and  delinquencies,  has 
never  left  himself  without  witness  among  us.  We 
meet  to  give  testimony  to  the  value  of  those  religious 
principles  which  the  experience  of  all  ages  has  proved 
to  be  of  divine  origin  and  of  saving  power. 

We  shall  not  observe  this  anniversary  again  together. 
Before  another  quarter  of  a  century  shall  have  meas- 
ured out  its  years  of  trial,  of  sorrow,  and  of  joy,  a 
large  portion  of  this  congregation,  including  the  pas- 
tor, will  have  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  Great  Head 
of  the  church,  the  sentence  of  life  or  of  death  eternal. 
May  we  all,  in  a  good  conscience,  and  with  faith 
unfeigned,  hold  fast  those  precious  truths  which  we 
publicly  profess.  And  when  the  present  generation 
of  believers  shall  have  joined  the  church  of  the  first- 
born, which  are  written  in  heaven,  may  those  who 
come  after  us,  standing  upon  the  same  foundation,  be 
able  to  point  to  our  times,  as  we  do  to  those  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets,  as  confirmatory  and  illustra- 
tive of  the  great  and  precious  doctrines  which  are 
the  ground  of  all  Christian  hope,  and  the  life  of  all 
piety  and  religious  joy. 


THE 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  A  MEETING 


COMMEMORATIVE   OF 


THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  SETTLEMENT 


JOHN   A.   ALBRO,    D.D. 


AS   PASTOR  OF   THE 


FIRST   CHURCH   AND   SHEPARD  SOCIETY, 


HELD    APRIL    18,     1860. 


P  R  O  C  E  E  D  I  X  G  S . 


Pursuant  to  a  vote  of  the  congregation,  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  committee  of  arrangements,  public  services  were  held  in 
the  church  at  the  corner  of  Holyoke  and  Mount  Auburn  streets, 
Wednesday,  April  18,  1860,  at  7  o'clock,  p.  M. 

The  exercises  of  the  evening  were  commenced  by  Hon.  S.  T. 
Farwell,  chairman  of  the  committee,  with  the  following  intro- 
ductory remarks : — 

On  the  fifteenth  day  of  April,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
five,  Rev.  Dr.  Albro  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church  and 
society  worshipping  in  this  house.  That  event  was  fitly  com- 
memorated by  him  in  the  interesting  services  of  last  Sabbath. 

The  congregation,  including  both  church  and  society,  desire, 
on  their  part,  in  the  exercises  of  this  evening,  to  express  their 
gratitude  in  view  of  this  long  and  happy  connection ;  and  at  the 
same  time  leave  a  memorial  to  their  successors  of  this  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  their  pastor. 

The  thoughts  suggested  at  this  hour  naturally  carry  us  back 
to  the  time  when  this  society  was  a  feeble  band  —  small  in  num- 
bers and  in  resources  —  when  the  institutions  of  the  gospel 
were  maintained  with  much  labor  and  sacrifice.  In  recalling  the 
early  history  of  this  period,  we  would  not  forget  those  generous 
and  devoted  friends  in  the  neighboring  city  whose  aid  and  assist- 


tance  were  freely  given  in  the  time  of  our  need.  But  with 
gratitude  be  it  said,  the  blessing  of  God  rested  upon  this  peo- 
ple in  the  days  of  their  weakness ;  and  in  a  short  time  the 
society  had  no  longer  need  of  aid  from  abroad,  but  were  able 
not  only  to  sustain  themselves,  but  to  extend  a  helping  hand  to 
others,  and  thus  return  to  other  fields  of  want  the  bounty  so 
liberally  bestowed  on  this  society,  during  the  time  of  its  early 
struggles.  As  was  said  by  our  pastor  last  Sabbath,  thrice 
have  we  found  our  place  of  worship  too  strait  for  the  congrega- 
tion, and  as  many  times  has  it  been  enlarged.  Cut  off  one  fourth 
from  its  length ;  bring  in  the  side  walls,  to  the  line  of  columns 
on  either  hand,  and  you  have  the  dimensions  of  the  interior  of 
this  edifice  as  it  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  period  under 
revieAY.  These  several  enlargements  may  be  taken  as  indica- 
tions of  the  steady  growth  of  the  church  and  society  to  the 
present  time.  For  very  much  of  this  outward  prosperity,  as 
well  as  for  that  higher  success  which  has  been  manifested  in 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  church,  —  in  the  turning  of  sinners 
from  the  error  of  their  ways,  —  in  the  consecration  of  parents 
and  children,  of  brothers  and  sisters  to  the  Christian  work 
of  holy  living  and  believing,  —  we  are  indebted,  under  God,  to 
the  labors  of  his  servant  who,  coming  among  us  in  our  day  of 
small  things,  has  labored  in  season  and  out  of  season,  preach- 
ing the  glorious  gospel  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  with  such 
tokens  as  these,  of  the  divine  favor,  manifested  all  along  the 
passing  years  that  have  gone  to  make  up  the  quarter  of  a 
century  now  closed.  The  changes  which  twenty-five  years  have 
wrought  among  this  people,  are  significantly  illustrated  in  another 
remark  of  our  pastor,  that,  of  the  heads  of  families  with  us  at 
the  beginning,  only  six  or  seven  remain  to-day.  A  large  pro- 
portion of  the  changes  that  are  continually  going  on  in  the 
membership  of  the  church  and   society,  are  occasioned   by  the 


37 


frequent  removals  to  and  from  our  city.  To  these  must  be 
added  the  sadder  removals,  from  the  city  of  the  living  to  the 
city  of  the  dead.  Busy  memory  recalls  at  this  hour  the  forms 
of  many  of  the  venerated  and  loved,  who  are  no  longer  in  the 
flesh: — Rev.  Dr.  Holmes,  who  for  nearly  forty  years  was  the 
able  and  faithful  pastor  of  this  flock,  going  in  and  out  before 
them,  and  breaking  unto  them  the  bread  of  life ;  Dea.  Hil- 
liard  and  Dea.  Munro,  steadfast  and  efficient  Avorkers  and  office- 
bearers in  the  church  at  the  time  when  their  Master's  cause 
demanded  a  persistent  zeal  and  self-sacrifice ;  the  brother  of  the 
last  named,  Mr.  Nathaniel  Munroe,  the  sweet  singer  in  our 
Israel  whose  soul  seemed  as  finely  attuned  to  the  harmonies  of 
heaven,  as  his  voice  was  to  those  of  earth  ;  our  aged  friend, 
Mr.  Samuel  Sawyer,  who  dwelt  almost  literally  under  the  drop- 
pings of  the  sanctuary,  always  present  at  the  hour  of  public 
worship  and  in  the  social  meetings  of  the  church ;  Mr.  Allston, 
a  devout  worshipper  in  this  Christian  temple,  for  the  chaste  and 
simple  beauty  of  which,  as  it  was  originally  designed  and  built, 
the  society  were  indebted  to  him ;  these,  and  many  more,  of  whom 
time  would  fail  me  to  speak,  have  passed  away  and  their  record 
is  on  high. 

But  we  turn  from  the  past  to  the  pleasant  duties  of  the  present 
hour.  And  it  only  remains  for  me  to  welcome  back  to  these  seats 
those  with  whom  in  other  days  we  have  taken  sweet  counsel  to- 
gather,  and  walked  to  the  house  of  God  in  company  ;  to  welcome 
the  predecessor  of  our  pastor  to  the  place  of  his  early  labors.  To 
these,  and  to  all  the  guests  and  friends  gathered  here  upon  this 
interesting  anniversary,  in  behalf  of  the  church  and  society,  I 
bid  a  cordial  welcome. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  of  Providence, 
R.  I.,  formerly  a  member  of  this  church. 


38 


Selections  from  the  Scriptures  were  read  by  Rev.  James  H. 
Means,  of  Dorchester,  Mass.,  at  the  close  of  which  the  children 
of  the  Sabbath  school  sung  the  following  hymn,  written  for  the 
occasion  by  Miss  Elizabeth  L.  Willard. 

HYMN. 

Tune,  Oak. 

Saviour,  we  come  to  Thee, 

Hear,  hear  our  prayer ; 
Thou  who  by  faith  we  see, 

Come,  come  Thou  near ; 
Come  by  Thy  Spirit's  power, 
Bless  the  worship  of  this  hour, 
Accept  the  songs  of  praise 

We  raise  to  Thee. 

Lambs  of  the  flock  are  we, 

Seeking  thy  care ; 
E'er  with  our  Shepherd  be, 

Now  is  our  prayer; 
Long  has  he  led  the  way, 
To  those  pastures  ever  green ; 
There  oft  we  've  heard  him  say, 

Peace  dwells  within. 

Bless  him,  while  life  shall  last, 

Shepherd  on  high  ; 
And  when  death's  stream  is  past. 

Bring  us  all  nigh, 
Where,  with  the  countless  throng, 
We  will  ever  raise  our  song, 
And  there  our  notes  prolong, 

Praising  Thy  name. 

The  meeting  was  then  addressed  by  Zelotes  Hosmer,  Esq., 
in  behalf  of  the  church.     Mr.  Hosmer  said  :  — 


39 


It  would  have  been  much  more  congenial  to  my  own  feelings  if 
allowed  my  choice  to  have  been  a  listener,  rather  than  a  speaker, 
on  this  pleasant  occasion ;  and  it  can  only  be  owing  to  the  fact 
that  I  have  been  so  long  a  resident  here,  that  I  can  have  any 
claim  to  the  place  assigned  me. 

The  occasion  which  has  called  us  together  is,  in  these  days  of 
change,  one  of  rare  occurrence.  Such  is  the  instability  of  the 
pastoral' relation,  that  a  minister  at  his  installation  almost  needs, 
like  the  knight  of  feudal  times,  to  be  "  booted  and  spurred,  with 
his  steed  at  the  door,"  ready  for  the  next  parish.  Such  a  red- 
letter  day  as  this  in  the  calendar  of  the  church,  where  the  relation 
of  pastor  and  people  has  continued  for  five  and  twenty  years, 
with  so  much  good  accomplished,  —  so  many  pleasant  recollections 
of  the  past,  and  such  prospects  for  the  future,  —  may  well  demand 
more  than  a  passing  notice. 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  1834  that  he  who  now  addresses  you, 
—  then  a  member  of  the  Essex  Street  Church,  Boston,  —  in  com- 
pany with  an  honored  member  of  that  church,  and  who  is  with  us 
this  evening,  spent  part  of  a  day  in  the  study  of  Rev.  Dr.  Adams, 
then  pastor  of  this  church,  to  persuade  him  to  accept  a  call  just 
given  him  in  Boston.  The  transaction  seems  but  as  of  yesterday  ; 
and  when,  some  three  years  later,  I  came  to  Cambridge  to  sit 
under  your  preaching,  I  was  reminded  by  some  of  Dr.  Adams' 
warm  personal  friends,  that  it  was  but  a  righteous  judgment  upon 
me  for  that  act.  Now,  without  discriminating  between  the  two, 
I  hope  the  rod  has  been  borne  with  as  much  meekness  as  usually 
falls  to  the  lot  of  those  who  are  called  to  endure  afflictions  in  this 
world  of  trial. 

On  an  occasion  like  the  present,  the  thoughts  instinctively 
revert  to  the  early  history  of  the  settlement  of  our  pastor,  —  and 
there  are  yet  many  living  who  will  readily  recall  those  days  of 
small  things,  —  when  the  income  from  the  pew  tax  and  subscrip- 


40 


tions  was  insufficient  for  the  support  of  public  worship  in  the  most 
economical  manner,  —  when  the  church  was  small,  and  the  attend- 
ance limited,  — when,  after  two  or  three  years  of  labor,  the  health 
of  the  pastor  was  seriously  impaired,  and  it  seemed  as  if  we  must 
depend  upon  the  charity  of  others  or  abandon  the  work.  During 
all  these  early  years  of  weakness,  no  measures  of  doubtful  expe- 
diency were  resorted  to  by  either  pastor  or  people  ;  but  with  sim- 
ple reliance  upon  the  ordinary  work  of  the  ministry,  they  labored, 
and  the  result  is  known  to  all.  If  all  pastors  were  to  pursue  the 
same  course,  and  all  churches  were  satisfied  with  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  and  the  appropriate  work  of  the  ministry,  there  is  rea- 
son to  believe  the  relation  between  pastor  and  people  would  be 
more  affectionate  in  character,  and  more  permanent  than  is 
now  the  case. 

As  our  churches  are  formed  on  the  voluntary  plan,  every  person 
is  presumed  to  choose  his  pastor,  and  his  place  of  worship,  from  a 
general  concurrence  of  belief  in  such  doctrines  as  are  appropriate 
subjects  for  discussion  in  the  pulpit.  In  all  other  matters,  —  in 
temperance — in  politics — in  questions  of  moral  reform  —  in  the 
usages  and  customs  of  social  life  —  or  sins,  if  you  choose  to  call 
them  such,  —  in  all  these,  members  of  the  same  church  may 
widely  differ,  not  only  in  opinion,  but  in  the  remedial  measures 
adopted  to  cure  them.  Now  it  must  be  apparent  that  the  pastor 
who,  from  his  own  choice  or  from  importunity  from  others,  enters 
upon  the  discussion  of  such  topics  from  the  pulpit,  will  very 
likely  offend  those  who  differ  from  him.  He  has  his  political  rights 
as  a  citizen,  to  be  exercised  most  freely  at  the  proper  time  and 
place, — but  not  from  the  pulpit.  The  fault,  however,  is  not  always 
with  the  minister  alone.  Some  good  brother,  full  of  zeal  for  the 
honor  of  God,  and  fearful,  as  was  Uzzah,  would  lay  a  rash  hand 
upon  the  Ark,  and  would  enlist  the  pulpit  to  stay  the  evil,  which 
to  his  eye  is  above  all  other  sins.     Happy  is  that  church,  and 


41 


happy  that  pastor  who  has  the  courage  to  act  within  his  commis- 
sion, and  use  the  pulpit  for  its  legitimate  purpose,  —  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel.  I  have  spoken  thus  freely  in  this  matter 
because  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  practice  of  our  pastor,  and, 
I  believe,  the  wishes  of  his  people. 

A  Christian  poet  has  given  us  his  idea  of  a  preacher  in  the 
following  beautiful  description : 

"  I  would  express  him  simple,  grave,  sincere ; 
In  doctrine  uncorrupt ;   in  language  plain, 
And  plain  in  manner;   decent,  solemn,  chaste, 
And  natural  in  gesture ;   much  impressed 
Himself,  as  conscious  of  his  awful  charge, 
And  anxious  mainly  that  the  flock  he  feeds 
May  feel  it  too ;   affectionate  in  look, 
And  tender  in  address,  as  well  becomes 
A  messenger  of  grace  to  guilty  man. 

His  theme  divine, 

His  office  sacred,  his  credentials  clear. 

By  him  the  violated  law  speaks  out 

Its  thunders;   and  by  him,  in  strains  as  sweet 

As  angels  use,  the  gospel  whispers  peace. 

He  'stablishes  the  strong,  restores  the  weak, 

Reclaims  the  wanderer,  binds  the  broken  heart, 

And  armed  himself  in  panoply  complete, 

Of  heavenly  temper,  furbishes  with  arms 

Bright  as  his  own,  and  trains,  by  every  rule 

Of  holy  discipline,  to  glorious  war 

The  sacramental  host  of  God's  elect." 

But  it  is  not  alone  as  a  preacher,  as  the  poet  here  contem- 
plates him,  but  as  a  pastor,  that  he  exercises  a  power  over  his 
people.  In  the  joyful  family  gatherings  when  a  long  absent  child 
returns,  whom  he  baptized  in  infancy,  whom  he  watched  over  in 
early  years,  and  for  whom  he  has  often  prayed,  —  when  the  young 

6 


42 


in  obedience  to  the  law  of  God,  forsaking  father  and  mother,  go 
out  to  establish  a  home  of  their  own,  —  a  time  like  an  April  day,  in 
which  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  sunshine  or  tears  are  to  prevail, — 
or  the  sad  time  when  the  pastor  comes  to  the  sick  chamber  to  min- 
ister consolation  to  the  departing,  —  or  that  most  trying  of  all,  when 
the  golden  cord  has  been  broken,  and,  like  Abraham  of  old,  we 
must  bury  our  dead  out  of  our  sight,  —  how  welcome,  then,  the 
presence  of  the  beloved  pastor  to  whom  for  years  we  have  looked 
for  instruction  and  for  consolation  amid  scenes  like  these. 

With  such  a  hold  upon  the  affections  as  circumstances  like 
these  will  give  a  pastor  over  the  hearts  of  his  people,  why  should  not 
the  relation  be  a  permanent  one  ?  And  why  should  not  the  scene 
of  his  active  labors  be  at  the  last  the  place  of  his  rest  ?  It  was 
regarded  among  the  Jews  as  a  great  calamity  not  to  be  gathered 
unto  their  fathers  in  burial.  Joseph,  when  dying,  would  not  be 
buried  in  Egypt,  but  must  rest  with  his  brethren  in  the  land  of 
promise  ;  and  when  David,  in  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  proposed  to 
reward  his  benefactor  Barzillai  with  a  seat  at  his  own  table  in 
Jerusalem,  "  Let  me  die  in  mine  own  city,  and  be  buried  by  the 
grave  of  my  father  and  of  my  mother,"  was  his  reply ;  and  such 
are  the  instinctive  feelings  of  humanity  in  all  ages.  Let  us  be 
thankful  that  for  five  and  twenty  years  we  have  enjoyed  the  faith- 
ful preaching  of  God's  Word  from  a  faithful  teacher,  and  trust  that 
here  may  be  his  place  of  rest,  and  I  am  sure  you  will  all  join  with 
me  in  the  expression  of  the  hope,  that  his  ministry  may  be  long 
continued,  and  that  when  it  is  ended,  it  may  appear  that  he  has 
not  labored  in  vain,  nor  that  we  have  heard  in  vain,  the  gospel 
from  his  lips. 

The  congregation  now  joined  in  singing  the  following  hymn  by 
William  A.  Brewer,  Esq.,  to  the  tune  of  "  Hamburg." 


43 


GOD'S  PROGRESSIVE  CARE  OP  THE  CHURCH. 


God  of  our  fathers,  we  recount 
Thy  favor  to  thy  Church  of  old ; 

When  in  the  vale,  or  on  the  mount, 
Thou  didst  protect  thy  chosen  fold. 

In  wildernesses  at  the  first, 

Patriarch  shepherds  smote  the  rock, 
And  water  flowed  to  slake  the  thirst, 

And  manna  rained  to  feed  the  flock. 

In  later  years  the  Prophet's  tongue, 
Touched  with  a  living  coal  of  love, 

Proclaimed  to  sinners,  old  and  young, 
A  Savior  coming  from  above. 

At  length  Apostles  saw  the  sight 
Which  many  kings  desired  to  see : 

The  earth  was  filled. with  heavenly  light, 
By  him  who  died  on  Calvary. 

Symbols  and  types  and  prophecies 
Were  all  fulfilled  in  Christ,  the  Lord ; 

Thenceforth  the  Gospel  Church  must  rise, 
And  feed  upon  the  preached  word. 

Shepherd  of  shepherds,  from  thy  hand, 
Ascension  gifts  to  us  have  come ; 

Pastors  and  Teachers  foremost  stand, 
To  draw  man  to  his  heavenly  home. 

We  celebrate  thy  watchful  care ; 

We  love  thy  under-shepherd,  Lord ; 
And  may  thy  grace,  through  him,  prepare 

All  hearts  to  live  in  sweet  accord. 


44 

The  sheep  and  lambs,  in  thy  own  name, 

These  many  years  his  hand  has  fed; 
In  many  more  may  he  proclaim 

Thy  word,  till  all  to  Christ  are  led. 

So  when  life's  weary  day  is  o'er, 

And  God  his  jewels  does  recount, 
May  we  arrive  on  Canaan's  shore, 

And  ever  dwell  in  Zion's  mount. 

Hon.  Joel  Parker,  LL.  D.,  in  behalf  of  the  society,  de- 
livered the  following  address  :  — 

I  have  been  requested  to  say  a  few  words  in  behalf  of 
the  Shepard  Congregational  Society. 

The  great  fact  which  brings  us  together  at  this  time,  —  one 
which  is  present  to  all  our  minds,  —  is  the  fact  that  the  relation 
of  pastor  and  people,  of  minister  and  church  and  society,  has 
now  existed  between  the  Rev.  Dr.  Albro  on  the  one  part,  and 
the  First  Church  in  Cambridge  and  the  Shepard  Congregational 
Society,  for  the  period  of  twenty-five  years ;  —  a  full  quarter  of 
a  century. 

The  existence  of  such  a  relation,  for  such  a  period,  is,  at 
the  present  day,  a  fact  of  very  marked  significance ;  although 
the  time  when  such  a  circumstance,  in  many  parishes,  would 
have  carried  with  it  no  very  conclusive  inferences,  is  within 
the  memory  of  many  of  us. 

In  the  earlier  history  of  New  England,  when  parishes 
were  mostly  territorial,  in  many  instances  embracing  the  whole 
town,  —  when  the  pastor  was  the  minister  of  the  town,  —  when 
his  salary  was  raised,  like  other  public  charges,  by  an  assessment 
of  taxes  upon  all  the  taxable  persons  and  property  within  the  town 
(with  a  few  exceptions,  in  which  the  exemption  in  order  to  be 
allowed  must  be  shown  affirmatively  to  exist),  a  pastoral  relation 
of  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  little  more  significant  than  the  ex- 


45 


istence  of  the  marriage  relation  for  a  like  period ;  although  it 
was  not  perhaps  quite  as  frequent,  in  proportion  to  the  numbers 
existing  of  the  one  and  the  other.  The  relation  once  formed 
was  understood  to  be  (extraordinaries  excepted)  one  for  the  life 
of  the  minister. 

Unlike  the  marriage  relation  there  might  be  a  dissolution  of 
the  obligations  of  the  contract  if  a  greater  field  of  usefulness 
appeared  to  be  offered  to  the  minister  ;  and  changes  of  his  opin- 
ions might  be  such  as  to  furnish  cause  for  divorce ;  but  like  the 
obligations  of  the  marriage  relation,  considerations  having  regard 
to  the  original  inexpediency  of  the  contract,  infirmities  of  temper 
on  the  one  part  or  on  the  other,  and  even  a  lack  of  affection, 
although  they  might  furnish  a  reason  for  calling  a  council  of 
friends  to  give  advice  ;  were  rarely  regarded,  without  something 
superadded,  as  a  good  cause  for  a  dissolution  of  the  obligation 
of  the  pastoral  relation,  and  a  termination  of  its  duties. 

Whether  the  change  of  the  laws,  by  reason  of  which  the 
obligations  of  the  contract  which  binds  pastor  and  people  together 
can  be  more  easily  terminated,  and  the  change  of  views  in  the 
community,  so  that  the  existence  of  the  pastoral  office  is  very 
much  at  the  will  of  the  incumbent,  and  the  continuance  of  the 
relation  is  very  nearly  at  the  will  of  the  other  party,  operate 
beneficially,  is  a  question  with  which  we  have  no  concern  upon 
this  occasion. 

It  is,  however,  to  our  present  purpose  that  this  greater 
facility  of  dissolution  gives  a  high  significance  to  a  long  duration 
of  such  a  connection  wherever  and  whenever  it  exists.  It  speaks 
of  a  unity  of  sentiment  and  purpose  on  the  part  of  pastor  and 
people,  with  a  conclusive  assurance  not  to  be  mistaken.  It  leads 
to  the  irresistible  belief  that  a  harmony  of  thought  and  feeling, 
a  concordance  of  opinion,  and  a  concert  of  action  of  large  extent 
and  measure,  must  have  existed  among  the  parties. 


46 


This  unity  and  harmony  is  the  first  subject  to  which  we  turn 
our  attention  to-night.  We  infer  it  from  the  mere  connection  of 
minister  and  congregation  for  so  long  a  period.  We  turn  to  our 
own  observation,  and  our  reminiscences  attest  it ;  we  inquire  and 
are  assured  that  it  is  not  a  matter  respecting  which  a  doubt  can 
be  admitted.  The  testimony  comes  from  those  who  witnessed  the 
installation  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  who  have  borne  the  heat  and 
burden  of  the  day  since  that  time,  following  the  footsteps  of  the 
pastor  from  that  period,  as  well  as  from  those  who  have  worked 
in  this  vineyard  but  from  the  eleventh  hour.  It  has  been 
proved  and  established  by  the  esteem  of  the  aged,  by  the  respect 
of  manhood,  and  by  the  affection  of  youth. 

"  E'en  children  followed  with  endearing  wile, 
And  plucked  his  gown,  to  share  the  good  man's  smile." 

You  will  not  understand  me  to  assert  that  this  unity  of 
thought  and  opinion  has  pervaded  the  entire  congregation  at 
all  times,  upon  all  occasions,  and  with  reference  to  all  subjects. 
That  were  an  assertion  of  complete  union  in  error,  or  of  a  per- 
fection to  which  no  congregation  ever  attained.  In  the  changes 
of  twenty-five  years  in  any  place,  and  especially  in  a  city  which 
in  that  period  has  nearly  quadrupled  its  population ;  in  the  intro- 
duction, which  under  such  circumstances  must  take  place,  of 
many  new  members  into  a  church  and  congregation,  bringing 
with  them  their  preconceived  notions  respecting  modes  of  belief, 
their  peculiar  ideas  respecting  reforms,  and  their  diverse  tastes, 
perfect  agreement  long  continued  would  be  an  utter  impossibility, 
even  if  it  existed  in  the  outset.  And  still  further,  such  entire 
concord,  in  this  imperfect  state  of  existence,  is  hardly  to  be  de- 
sired. If  not  objectionable  because  conceived  in  error,  it  would 
soon  degenerate  into  stagnation. 

As  a  community,    however,    we   are   in   no  danger   of  that. 


47 


"  Ism  "  is  a  syllable  of  such  extensive  use  in  English  orthography, 
that  it  seems  to  deserve  a  separate  and  independent  existence  ; 
and  about  the  only  defect  which  I  have  discovered  in  the  very 
excellent  work  of  my  good  friend  Dr.  Worcester,  is,  that  he  has 
not  recognized  this  particle  as  a  legitimate  or  illegitimate  word,  — 
not  as  a  synonym  of  "notion,"  —  but  a  word  well  adapted  to 
express  an  idea  of  irregular  dogmas  of  all  sorts,  conditions, 
colors,  and  phases.  "  Isms  "  are  as  plenty  as  blackberries,  and 
people  not  only  give  them  to  us  without  compulsion,  but  they 
press  them  upon  our  acceptance  as  patent  medicines  are  urged 
upon  our  credulity,  and  cram  them  down  our  throats  by  the  dozen 
so,  in  quick  succession.  Or  the  "  ism  "  perhaps  takes  the  shape 
of  disease  itself,  and  then  becomes  contagious,  infecting  some- 
times whole  neighborhoods. 

Now  it  would  be  singular  indeed  if  some  of  us  did  not  oc- 
casionally indulge  in  the  luxury  of  an  ism,  or  become  some- 
times infected  with  one,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  the  world.  And 
the  natural  operation  of  an  isin  upon  the  party  affected  is  that  of 
extreme  wonder  why  others  do  not  perceive  the  new  light  which 
he  thinks  he  has  discovered,  and  with  the  precise  flickering  which 
commends  it  to  his  vision  ;  or  why  others  do  not  exhibit  the  same 
cuticular  manifestations  which  impel  him  to  very  remarkable 
activity. 

I  beg  then  to  be  understood  that  there  may  have  been  some- 
thing of  human  infirmity  among  us  ;  although  I  profess  to  have 
no  particular  knowledge  of  any  thing  of  the  kind.  But  some  of 
us  may,  at  some  time,  have  had  our  favorite  lights,  and  shadows, 
and  fancies.  There  may  have  been  times  in  which  one  desired 
less  of  doctrine,  and  more  discussion  of  a  practical  character ; 
another  a  finer  point  to  an  argument ;  another  a  more  complete 
rhetorical  flourish  ;  another  a  wider  range  of  illustration  ;  and 
still  another  a  less  literal  interpretation. 


48 


If  it  has  been  so,  these  have  been  the  exceptions,  and  not 
the  rule  ;  and  exceptions,  as  we  know,  are  said  to  prove  the  rule. 
But  in  this  case  the  exceptions  have  hardly  been  sufficient,  of 
themselves,  to  furnish  the  evidence. 

From  this  union  of  thought  and  action,  and  from  this  large 
measure  of  satisfaction,  we  readily  and  clearly  deduce  inferences 
respecting    the   talents    and    ability    of    the    pastor  ;    his 

LEARNING  AND  ELOQUENCE  ;  HIS  FAITHFULNESS  ;  HIS  KINDLY  IN- 
TERCOURSE ;  and  His  sound  logic  ;  which  need  only  to  be 
named  to  be  comprehended  and  appreciated. 

The  last  inference  which  I  have  just  stated  leads  me  to 
another  remark. 

Will  you  charge  me  with  an  undue  estimate  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  principles  of  a  profession  to  which  I  have  devoted 
a  life,  if  I  infer,  personally,  that  the  soundness  of  his  arguments 
has  been  in  some  small  degree  due  to  the  fact  that  the  pastor, 
prior  to  his  theological  education,  was  for  some  time  a  student  of 
the  law  ? 

The  great  importance  of  a  correct  comprehension  of  legal 
principles,  by  the  clergy  in  general,  presses  itself  upon  my  mind, 
Avith  increasing  force,  year  by  year.  Lack  of  reverence  for 
authority  is  fast  becoming,  if  it  has  not  already  become,  a 
marked  characteristic  of  the  age.  Those  who  train  under  that 
banner  have  invaded  the  precincts  of  the  law,  and  carried  its 
fortress  by  open  assault ;  and  it  would  seem  that  its  principles 
have  been  regarded  as  the  spoils  of  the  victors,  and  distributed 
broadcast  among  their  adherents,  who  exercise  dominion  over 
them  according  to  the  law  of  conquest.  It  may  well  be  sup- 
posed that  the  character  of  those  captured  legal  principles  has 
not  been  improved  by  their  compulsory  service  under  their  new 
masters.  Every  man  has  thus  become,  or  may  become,  his  own 
lawyer,  and  not  only  so,  but  he  may  take  upon  himself  to  be  the 


49 


lawyer  of  everybody  else,  and  to  know  more  of  the  principles  of 
law  (as  modified  by  the  conquest,  and  by  their  new  servitude) 
than  the  assembled  wisdom  of  the  bench  itself.  I  need  not  say 
that  the  law  and  its  administration  have  not  been  improved,  and 
cannot  be  amended,  by  a  disregard  or  perversion  of  its  funda- 
mental principles  ;  nor  can  the  peace  of  the  community,  nor  the 
welfare  of  the  State,  nor  the  durability  of  our  institutions,  be 
promoted  by  any  decrease  of  the  reverence  heretofore  entertained 
for  its  authority.  Law,  in  a  popular  government,  needs  the  sup- 
port, the  practical  support,  of  all  the  people  ;  and  it  should  be 
the  polar  star  to  which  all  look  who  assume  to  teach  the  people. 

I  beg  you  to  believe  that  these  remarks  have  no  reference 
to  any  criticisms  which  have  been  made  upon  any  decisions  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  I  give  that  court  up 
to  all  the  buffetings  that  any  one  pleases  to  bestow  upon  it,  — 
provided  alivays,  that  the  blows  are  scientifically  administered, 
according  to  sound  legal  principles. 

What  I  wish  to  say  further,  is,  that  in  a  reasonably  diligent 
attendance,  for  the  period  of  more  than  twelve  years,  upon  the 
stated  services  of  liim  to  whom  we  now  desire  to  render  due  honor ; 
I  have  never  known  him  to  confuse  the  minds  of  his  auditors 
by  the  enunciation  of  an  unsound  legal  principle,  nor  mislead 
them  by  a  specious  but  erroneous  legal  argument.  But  I  well 
recollect  that  years  since,  on  meeting  him  one  morning,  I  re- 
marked with  great  satisfaction  :  "  Sir,  if  you  had  not  studied  the 
law,  you  could  not  have  preached  yesterday's  sermon." 

Next  to  harmony  among  ourselves,  the  harmony  of  our  rela- 
tions with  those  around  us  stands  prominent  to  our  observation. 

It  seems  to  be  a  historical  fact,  that  Harvard  College  was 
located  at  this  place,  rather  than  any  other,  because  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  church  then  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Shepard.    The  present  members  of  the  corporation  which 

7 


50 


has  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  concerns  of  the  College,  are 
not  supposed  to  subscribe  to  the  precise  articles  of  belief,  or  to 
assent  to  all  the  theological  dogmas,  to  -which  this  church  and 
congregation  are  understood  more  or  less  closely  to  adhere.  The 
Institution  certainly  numbers  among  its  officers  of  government 
and  instruction,  in  some  of  its  departments,  at  the  present 
time,  those,  who  in  their  public  teachings  inculcate  tenets 
more  or  less  at  variance  with  those  taught  by  our  pastor. 
But  the  regular  attendance,  every  Sabbath,  of  numbers  of  the 
students  upon  the  public  services  of  this  society ;  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  pastor  as  one  of  the  visiting  committee  of  the 
Theological  school  connected  with  the  University ;  the  fact  that 
the  Institution  has  conferred  upon  him  its  highest  theological 
degree  ;  and,  above  all,  the  personal  presence  of  the  learned  Pres- 
ident of  the  College,  who  honors  us  to-night  for  the  purpose  of 
attesting  his  appreciation  of  the  character  of  the  pastor,  and  his 
sympathy  with  the  feelings  of  this  assemblage,  —  with  the  pres- 
ence of  members  of  its  different  Faculties  for  the  same  purpose ; 
seem  fully  to  exemplify  the  amicable,  respectful,  and  harmonious 
relations  which  subsist,  and  have  subsisted,  between  this  society 
and  Harvard  College  for  a  quarter  of  a  century ;  and  which  it 
is  devoutly  to  be  hoped  that  no  lapse  of  time,  and  no  cause  of 
difference,  will  ever  destroy. 

We  live  also  in  the  midst  of  numerous  congregations,  of 
many  and  various  shades  of  religious  belief ;  and  of  course  differ- 
ing in  a  greater  or  less  degree  from  the  form  which  marks  that 
of  orthodox  Congregationalism.  Equally  well  attested  by  the 
history  of  the  last  twenty-five  years,  and  by  the  presence  of 
distinguished  pastors  of  those  congregations,  is  the  friendly  rela- 
tion sustained  by  this  society  and  its  pastor,  with  those  societies 
and  their  respective  heads.  Differing,  as  they  do  and  must  do, 
—  fundamentally,  if  you  please  to  use  that  term,  —  these  differ- 


51 


ences  have  not  been  permitted  to  degenerate  into  personal  hostil- 
ities, or  an  embittered  warfare. 

From  these  facts  certain  other  inferences  seem  to  me  logically 
to  follow  ;  which  I  crave  your  indulgence  for  suggesting,  but 
with  all  possible  brevity. 

First.  Harvard  College,  under  the  immediate  supervision  of 
a  corporation  such  as  I  have  described,  and  with  its  officers  of 
government,  and  instruction  such  as  they  will  be  found  to  be  on 
inquiry,  is  not  a  sectarian  institution,  in  any  offensive  sense  of 
that  term.  If  I  am  in  an  error  on  this  subject,  the  learned 
President  will  set  me  right. 

Second.  They  illustrate  the  character  of  the  pastor,  who  has 
certainly  done  his  part  to  promote  this  courtesy  and  amity. 
Whatever  may  be  the  differences  of  opinion,  we  admit  that 
others  may  be  as  much  attached  to  their  modes  of  thinking,  and 
to  their  articles  of  belief,  as  we  are  to  our  own ;  and  estimable 
as  we  know  our  friends  to  be,  and  great  as  is  their  kindness  of 
heart,  we  are  full  well  assured  that  they  would  be  prompt  to 
make  defence  of  their  principles,  and  of  themselves,  against  any 
direct  or  formal  attack.  But  while  maintaining  his  own  views 
with  undoubted  and  uncompromising  faithfulness,  I  am  assured 
that  the  instance  has  not  occurred,  within  the  whole  quarter  of 
a  century,  of  any  hostile  collision  between  the  pastor  of  this 
people,  and  any  other  pastor  in  this  city,  or  elsewhere. 

Third.  Last  but  not  least, —  Orthodoxy  is  not  necessarily  a 
belligerent  form  of  religious  belief,  as  respects  persons,  notwith- 
standing its  church  is  a  church  militant.  It  makes  no  war  upon 
persons.  It  necessarily  wages  an  uncompromising  warfare  against 
sin  and  iniquity,  in  all  their  forms.  All  churches  having  any 
pretensions  to  a  Christian  character  must  do  so.  But  orthodoxy 
may  do  this  without  personal  hostility,  for  we  see  and  know  that 
it  has  so  done  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 


52 


Orthodoxy,  while  it  has  none  of  that  charity  which  is  the 
offspring  of  an  indifference  to  principle,  —  while  it  stands  stead- 
fast by  its  faith,  —  has  that  charity  which  is  kind,  rejoiceth  in 
the  truth,  hopeth  all  things,  and  if  need  be  endureth  all  things. 
This  is  the  charity  which  never  faileth. 

Genuine  orthodoxy  is  like  the  wisdom  from  above,  in  this, 
that  it  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be 
entreated  ;  and  then,  and  then  only,  is  it  full  of  mercy  and  good 
fruits. 

Reverend  and  dear  Sir,  —  It  only  remains  for  me',  in  behalf 
of  the  members  of  this  society,  to  tender  to  you  their  heartfelt 
congratulations  upon  this  interesting  anniversary,  and  our  fervent 
wishes  for  the  long  continuance  of  our  present  connection  as 
pastor  and  people. 

Understanding  and  appreciating  the  delicacy  of  feeling  which 
would  lead  you  rather  to  shun  than  to  court  notoriety ;  we  have 
nevertheless  desired  to  make  a  public  manifestation  of  our  high 
regard  for  your  personal  character,  and  of  the  great  satisfaction 
we  have  taken  in  your  pastoral  and  public  ministrations.  We 
have  done  this,  not  because  we  supposed  it  to  be  necessary  thus 
to  assure  you  of  the  respectful  and  affectionate  estimation  in 
which  you  are  held  by  a  people,  to  whom  we  doubt  not  that 
you  are  attached  by  ties  of  strong  regard  and  confidence  ;  nor 
because  we  believe  that  it  would  give  any  additional  assurance 
of  our  respect  and  veneration  to  those  around  us,  and  who  have 
kindly  cheered  us  with  their  presence ;  but  because  we  desire 
to  leave  for  after-times  a  memorial  of  this  day,  and  of  the  feel- 
ings and  sentiments  which  attend  it.  We  have  desired  to  make 
a  record  by  which  — 

We  may  tell  it  to  our  sons, 
And  they  again  to  theirs ;  — 


53 


That  it  may  strengthen  the  faith,  enlarge  the  good  works, 
uphold  the  hands,  and  encourage  the  hearts,  of  others  who  shall 
occupy  our  places,  not  only  at  the  end  of  the  next  quarter  of  a 
century,  but  in  all  coming  time  so  long  as  that  memorial  shall 
exist. 

President  Felton,  of  Harvard  University,  followed,  and  refer- 
ring to  Judge  Parker's  allusion  to  the  ever-friendly  relations  be- 
tween the  College  and  this  society  and  its  pastor,  responded  as 
follows :  — 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Friends: 

I  thank  you  for  the  honor  and  pleasure  you  have  done  me  by 
your  kind  and  neighborly  invitation  to  share  in  the  services  of  this 
evening.  It  is  an  occasion  of  no  common  interest,  and  I  am 
happy  to  respond  to  the  feeling  which  gave  rise  to  it.  My  friend 
and  colleague,  Chief  Justice  Parker,  remarked  that  Harvard  Uni- 
versity is  not  a  sectarian  institution,  in  any  offensive  sense  of  the 
term.  I  think  I  have  a  right  to  say  that  such  a  tribute  to  the 
character  of  the  University  is  true ;  and  in  claiming  this  praise 
for  my  Alma  Mater,  I  am  claiming  no  part  of  it  for  myself.  My 
long  connection  with  the  University  has  been  in  a  department  of 
literature,  until  a  few  weeks  ago  ;  and  the  honor  belongs  to  the 
eminent  men  who  have  shaped  its  character  and  directed  its  affairs 
before  me.  When  the  Chief  Justice  alluded  to  the  "  learned 
President,"  he  turned,  and  his  eye  fell,  where  no  doubt  the 
thoughts  of  all  in  this  assembly  followed,  upon  the  venerable 
man,  my  predecessor  who  sits  near  me,  to  whose  wise  and  able 
administration  during  seven  years,  all  who  have  been  associated 
with  him  or  under  his  care  have  been  so  deeply  indebted. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  cordially  agree  with  all  that  has  been  said 
tending  to  the  promotion  of  Christian  harmony.     What  we  most 


54 


need,  in  this  age,  is  unity  in  diversity.  The  passage  of  Scripture 
read  by  the  reverend  gentleman  near  rne,  commands  us  to  be  "  of 
one  mind," — not  of  one  opinion.  The  difference  between  mind 
and  opinion  is  broad  and  deep.  There  are  many  opinions  current 
in  the  world  which  have  no  connection  whatever  with  the  mind. 
We  must  not  expect  all  men  to  agree  in  religious  opinion  ;  but  the 
older  I  have  grown,  the  more  I  have  seen  of  the  world,  the  more 
I  have  watched  the  effects  of  Christian  education  upon  the  char- 
acter and  happiness  of  men,  the  less  important  seem  to  me  the 
differences  which  separate  the  different  branches  of  the  Christian 
church,  compared  with  the  great  points  of  agreement  which  unite 
them,  —  until  finally  the  differences  have  sunk,  in  my  estima- 
tion, to  infinite  insignificance.  In  my  youth  I  was  accustomed  to 
read  a  great  deal  of  theological  controversy  ;  but  for  many  years 
that  reading  has  lost  all  its  interest  for  me.  It  is  a  long,  long 
time  since  I  have  read  a  book,  an  article,  or  even  a  paragraph 
of  "  polemical  theology."  I  have  even  sometimes  indulged  the 
dream,  that  in  some  happy  age,  by  a  blessed  consummation  of 
Christian  charity,  all  the  varying  voices  of  the  church,  from  every 
quarter  under  heaven,  shall  blend  and  unite  in  one  grand  har- 
mony, —  that  the  believers  of  every  sect,  while  holding  their  par- 
ticular views,  may  yet  recognize  the  great  brotherhood,  into  which 
a  truly  Christian  unity  of  spirit  shall  bind  them  ;  as  the  chime  of 
yonder  evening  bells,  to  which  we  listened  as  we  came  up  to  this 
sacred  place,  while  each  differs  from  the  others  in  tone,  move  the 
vocal  air  with  their  delightful  harmonies. 

"  How  sweetly  did  tbey  float  upon  the  wings 
Of  Silence,  through  the  empty-vaulted  night." 

I  confess,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  I  am  old  enough  and  old-fashioned 
enough  to  regard  a  clergyman  who  worthily  performs  the  duties 
of  his  great  office,  with  different  feelings  from  those  with  which  I 


55 


look  upon  other  men.  I  cannot  forget  that  his  studies  and  med- 
itations are  upon  subjects  that  belong  to  a  higher  sphere  than  the 
interests  of  common  life  ;  I  cannot  forget  that  his  lips  utter  the 
benediction,  Avhich  makes  of  marriage,  not  a  civil  contract,  but  a 
holy  sacrament ;  that  his  hand  sprinkles  the  baptismal  water  upon 
the  brow  of  infancy,  consecrating  it  to  God  ;  that  when  those  near- 
est and  dearest  to  us  are  taken  away,  through  his  voice  we  lift  up 
our  hearts  to  the  Eternal  Father  for  consolation  under  our  sorrows, 
and  strength  to  bear  our  bereavement. 

So  regarding  the  clergyman,  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  his  re- 
lation to  his  people  ought  to  be  a  permanent  one.  The  services  he 
renders  are  not  "  professional,"  nor  are  his  parishioners  clients. 
They  are  not  bound  together  by  business  ties,  but  by  the  most 
sacred  bonds  that  can  bring  human  beings  into  each  other's  socie- 
ty. That  kind  of  settlement,  so  graphically  illustrated  by  Mr. 
Hosmer,  with  the  horse  all  saddled  and  bridled,  standing  at  the 
door  to  take  the  minister  to  his  next  parish,  is  an  evil  custom,  and 
ominous  of  evil  to  the  highest  interests  of  society.  The  unhappy 
results  we  see  in  many  a  sad  case  around  us.  Some  of  the  causes 
of  it  have  been  intimated  ;  and  I  think  they  may  be  partly  attrib- 
uted to  the  clergymen  themselves,  in  not  maintaining  with  suffi- 
cient firmness  the  dignity  and  impartiality  of  the  pulpit.  We  live 
in  an  age  of  violent  agitations.  Public  opinion  runs  into  excesses 
on  every  imaginable  subject :  on  reform  and  conservatism ;  slavery 
and  anti-slavery  ;  total  abstinence  and  temperance.  Men  are  not 
content  to  assail  the  evils  which  afflict' the  world  ;  but  they  waste 
their  energies  in  quarrelling  about  the  means  and  methods  of  re- 
moving them.  The  state  of  public  opinion  is  like  a  stormy  sea, 
over  which  the  winds  sweep  from  every  quarter  of  the  heavens  : 


"  Una  Eurusque,  Notusque  ruunt,  creberque  procellis 
Africus,  et  vastos  volvunt  ad  litora  fluctus,"  — 


56 


they  surge  against  the  sanctuary,  and  undermine  the  foundations 
of  the  pulpit :  and  what  wonder  if  sometimes  it  topples  over  and 
is  swept  away  ?  But  there  are  some  pleasant  exceptions ;  and 
one  of  them  it  is  the  happiness  of  this  ancient  and  historical  society 
to  exemplify.  I  am  here  not  only  to  represent  the  University  on 
this  pleasant  occasion,  but  to  represent  myself.  I  join  as  heartily 
in  all  the  honors  you  are  paying  your  excellent  pastor  as  if  I  were 
a  member  of  the  society.  I  have  known  him  in  public  and  in 
private  ever  since  he  came  to  this  town.  I  think  I  have  known 
him  longer  than  most  of  the  —  I  was  going  to  say  venerable 
men  around  me ;  —  but  I  have  been  so  long  a  resident  here 
that  I  fear  if  I  applied  that  epithet  to  them,  they  might  turn 
upon  me  and  ask,  "if  we  are  venerable,  what  in  the  world  are 
you?  "  I  have  been  so  long  here,  that  I  sometimes  fancy  I  am 
that  mythical  personage,  the  "  oldest  inhabitant,"  who  "  has  no 
recollection  "  of  so  many  things.  At  all  events,  your  pastor  and 
myself  have  been  on  the  most  cordial  terms  for  the  quarter  of 
a  century  that  he  has  been  settled  over  you,  the  happy  com- 
pletion of  which  is  the  theme  of  your  congratulations  to-night. 
At  first  sight,  it  seems  strange  to  congratulate  a  man  for  hav- 
ing finished  so  large  a  part  of  his  life.  The  wise  ancients  have  a 
saying,  that  we  must  call  no  man  happy  until  he  has  ended  his 
life  without  suffering  calamity.  This  principle  was  founded  upon 
a  deep  and  philosophical  view  of  human  life  and  character.  No 
doubt  the  happiest  moment  the  good  man  is  conscious  of  enjoy- 
ing in  this  world,  is  the  moment  when  —  his  earthly  task  accom- 
plished, his  labors  over,  his  work  faithfully  done  according  to  the 
measure  of  his  ability,  —  his  conscience  approving  all  the  while 
■ —  he  receives  the  Master's  summons,  and  knows  that  he  shall 
be  greeted  with  the  divine  salutation,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faith- 
ful servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  The  moment 
that  closes  a  long  period  of  life  and  stamps  it  with  the  Lord's 


57 


"  well  done  "  — is  a  fitting  moment  of  gratulation  and  solemn  joy. 
I  join  you,  in  tendering  to  your  pastor  and  my  friend,  my  hearty 
congratulations  on  this  happy  occasion.  I  trust  his  days  may  be 
prolonged  in  the  land ;  that  he  may  see  this  church  still  further 
enlarged  by  another  line  of  columns  on  each  side,  and  another 
third  added  to  its  length  ;  that  he  may  gather  together  the 
children  and  grand-children  of  those  who  now  come  up  hither  to 
worship. 

And,  Dr.  Albro,  I  hope  you  may  finish  another  quarter  of 
a  century  as  happily  as  you  have  finished  the  last.  If  you 
will  hold  your  half  century  celebration,  bringing  with  you  your 
friends  and  neighbors  as  now,  I  will  not  absolutely  promise  to 
come,  but  I  will  do  the  best  I  can. 

Rev.  Nehemiah  Adams,  D.  D.,  formerly  the  pastor  of  this 
church  and  the  immediate  predecessor  of  Dr.  Albro,  was  then 
introduced  to  the  audience  and  spoke  as  follows : 

It  was  a  very  pleasant  morning  in  June,  1831,  when  a  com- 
pany of  us  assembled  on  this  spot,  then  covered  with  elms,  to 
prepare  a  place  for  a  new  temple  of  God.  The  venerated  Rev. 
Dr.  Holmes  removed  the  first  spade  full  of  turf  and  earth  from 
the  unbroken  soil.  We  had  some  discussion  whether  the  birds 
apprehended  that  they  were  enjoying  their  last  opportunity  in 
the  branches  over  us,  or  whether  they  were  in  sympathy  with 
us  and  with  the  occasion ;  for  they  were  full  of  music.  We  were 
sorry  to  invade  their  orchestra,  but  all  who  have  lived  long  in 
this  world  know  that  when  God  is  preparing  for  himself  a 
shrine  in  our  hearts,  one  of  the  first  tilings  which  sometimes  takes 
place  is,  the  daughters  of  music  are  brought  low.  Yet  when 
our  hymns  of  praise  went  up  to  heaven  for  the  first  time  under 
those  trees,  when  that  sweet  singer  in  our  Israel,  Mr.  Nathaniel 

8 


58 


Munroe,  and  the  Misses  Sawyer  and  others,  so  well  remembered 
to  this  day,  made  melody  in  those  first  acts  of  worship,  we  felt 
that  it  is  no  inverted  climax  for  David,  having  called  on  every 
thing  in  creation  to  bless  God,  to  end  with  saying,  "  Bless  the 
Lord,  0  my  soul."  The  love  and  praise  of  the  soul  made  in 
God's  likeness,  is  the  crown  of  all  this  praise. 

The  house  was  built.  Your  friend  and  fellow  parishioner, 
Mr.  Washington  Allston,  gave  us  the  plan  for  the  house.  More 
than  once,  after  an  evening  lecture,  would  he  stand  with  a  group 
about  a  hundred  rods  south-east  of  the  building,  when  the  moon 
was  in  that  quarter,  and  bid  us  view  the  house  from  that  point, 
discoursing  the  meanwhile  on  architecture,  and  playfully  quoting 
the  lines, — 

"  If  you  would  view  fair  Melrose  right, 
Go  visit  it  by  pale  moonlight." 

He  Avas  much  pleased  with  his  success  in  the  plan  of  the  house, 
and  it  was  afterwards  first  enlarged  under  his  direction.  And 
now  we  have  come  to  rejoice  in  twenty-five  years  of  prosperity 
and  happiness  under  this  pastorate,  and  to  "  bind  the  sacrifice  " 
of  thanksgiving  and  praise  "  with  cords,  even  to  the  horns  of 
the  altar." 

Some  are  disposed  to  think  that  words  of  commendation 
and  eulogium  in  the  hearing  of  a  pastor  on  such  an  occasion 
as  this,  may  prove  injurious  to  him  ;  but  a  man  in  such  circum- 
stances needs  something  to  keep  him  from  deep  despondency  at 
such  a  time.  For  does  any  one  think  that  this  good  man  is  now 
looking  with  exultant  eyes  at  his  finished  quarter  of  a  century 
in  this  pastorate  ?  No,  he  is  thinking  of  his  sins  and  imperfec- 
tions, and  of  his  omissions  in  duty,  and  of  lost  opportunities. 
Listen  to  the  whisper  of  his  soul ;  it  says,  like  the  righteous  at 
the  last  day,  '  Lord,  when  saw  I  thee  an  hungered  and  fed 
thee,  —  or  sick  and  in  prison  and  came  unto  thee?'     His  soul 


59 


is  ebbing  with  its  course  of  thought  toward  the  great  past,  and  no 
power  of  attraction  which  we  can  create  in  the  form  of  praise, 
can  arrest  it. 

He  is  the  most  solitary  man  in  this  audience ;  perhaps  the 
only  one.  True,  one  and  another  of  you  have  been  here  twenty- 
five  years ;  but  in  this  you  have  companionship.  He  alone  of 
us  has  been  pastor  here  for  twenty-five  years ;  no  one  inter- 
meddles with  him,  or  shares  with  him,  in  that  solemn  con- 
sciousness. Say  what  you  will  of  him  in  his  hearing, —  while  you 
speak,  his  soul  is  full  of  other  things,  and  if  he  remembers  your 
words  of  commendation  and  love,  they  can  do  no  more  than 
contribute  toward  the  balancing  of  hope  and  proper  confidence 
against  despondency. 

As  a  personal  friend  and  witness,  I  must  be  allowed  to  say 
of  him  that  he  is  a  tower  of  strength  in  our  ministerial  associa- 
tions and  ecclesiastical  affairs.  We  depend  upon  him  for  counsel; 
we  listen  to  his  large  and  well-considered  experience  ;  we  feel 
safe  to  be  guided  by  him  ;  we  always  look  that  he  will  be  on 
the  side  of  sound  principles  and  well-established  order  ;  and  we 
are  not  disappointed. 

He  has  both  knowledge  and  wisdom.  Some  know  much,  but 
they  are  not  wise.  Again,  some  are  wise,  are  sagacious  and  pru- 
dent, but  they  are  not  well  informed.  Our  friend  has  large  ac- 
quaintance with  men  and  things,  with  literature  and  science,  with 
the  histories  of  the  church  and  of  individuals.  He  is  a  full  man. 
He  reminds  me  of  a  place  in  Italy  where,  if  you  dig  a  few 
inches  and  apply  a  torch,  a  flame  springs  up.  I  feel  toward  him 
as  one  seems  to  have  done  toward  a  public  building  which  he  stood 
to  view,  leaning  his  head  upon  his  hand,  and  soliloquizing  every 
now  and  then,  with  much  variety  of  intonation  and  emphasis,  as 
he  judged  of  its  architecture,  "  It  is  right!     It  is  right!  " 

We  are  not  to  estimate  the  good  which  he  has  accomplished 


60 


here  merely  by  his  public  ministrations.  Many  who  have  been 
students  in  the  various  departments  of  the  university,  and  the 
parents  of  many  sons  in  college,  owe  him  a  debt  of  gratitude 
for  private  instructions  in  Bible  classes  at  his  house  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  Greek  Scriptures.  Many  theologians  refer  to 
the  principles  of  interpretation  Avhich  he  gave  them  as  laying 
the  foundation  of  their  interest  and  success  in  biblical  studies. 
In  this  and  other  ways  he  has  begun  a  good  work  in  young 
minds.  He  is  a  seedsman  as  well  as  florist.  He  can  give  you 
largely  of  flowers,  but  he  deals  especially  in  the  seeds  of  things, 
and  there  are  many  fruitful  things  growing  in  many  minds 
dropped  there  originally  by  his  hand. 

One  thing  I  will  mention  with  the  confidence  derived  from 
personal  experience  of  its  truth.  He  is  a  good  successor.  When 
a  minister  leaves  a  people,  he  cannot  fail  to  leave  some  foot- 
prints, especially  if  it  is  the  place  of  his  earliest  ministrations, 
which  it  will  be  pleasant  and  grateful  to  him  if  they  may  be 
covered,  and  especially  if  one  will  sprinkle  grass  seed  over  them. 
He  will  also  be  likely  to  leave  behind  him  deep  and  strong 
attachments  and  abiding  friendships.  It  is  in  the  power  of  a 
generous,  noble,  whole-souled  man  who  comes  after  him  to  make 
all  these  things  the  sources  of  great  pleasure,  as  this  friend  has 
done,  thereby  illustrating  certain  qualities  of  mind  and  heart 
which  enshrine  him  in  the  love  of  not  a  few.  In  the  course 
of  nature  he  too  must  have  a  successor.  By  that  great  law  of 
God's  providence,  '  with  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be 
measured  to  you  again,'  which  is  not  for  admonition  only,  but 
for  the  praise  of  them  who  do  well,  may  he  experience  a  reward, 
in  kind,  for  all  this.  And  may  the  latter  end  be  with  him 
more  than  the  beginning.  And  now,  my  dear  sir  and  brother, 
in  the  name  of  all  the  Congregational  ministers  everywhere 
who  either  know  of  this  occasion,  or  shall  be  made  acquainted 


61 


with  it,  I  feel  empowered  to  say,  "  The  brethren  which  are  with 
me,  greet  you." 

Hon.  Charles  T.  Russell  here  read  a  letter  from  Rev.  W.  A. 
Stearns,  D.  D.,  President  of  Amherst  College.  After  reading  this 
letter  Mr.  Russell  remarked  that  he  held  in  his  hand  another  letter 
which  he  would  be  glad  to  read,  but  he  much  doubted  if  he  had  a 
right  to  do  so.  It  is,  said  he,  a  rule  of  law,  in  most  cases,  where 
a  deposition  has  been  taken,  and  the  witness  is  present  in  court, 
that  the  deposition  cannot  be  read.  The  witness  must  be  called. 
The  letter  I  have  is  from  the  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  and  I  assure 
you,  Mr.  President,  its  contents  are  most  pertinent  and  important 
to  the  matter  we  have  in  hearing  to-night.  But  the  writer  is  un- 
expectedly to  himself  present  with  us.  I  insist  that,  on  the  legal 
principle  I  have  stated,  not  one  word  of  the  letter  can  be  read,  — 
that  all  parties  in  interest  here  have  a  right  to  confront  the  writer 
face  to  face.  I  appeal  to  the  honorable  gentlemen  near  me, — 
most  learned  in  the  law,  —  who  have  so  ably  administered  it  from 
the  bench,  and  so  successfully  teach  it  from  the  professor's  chair 
(Judges  Parker  and  Washburn),  if  I  am  not  right.  I  have  the 
ruling  of  the  court  for  me,  and  I  drop  the  letter  and  call  the  writer 
to  the  stand. 

A  facetious  friend  of  mine  once  said,  when  demonstrated  upon 
by  the  president  of  a  meeting  about  as  unexpectedly  as  I  have 
come  down  upon  Brother  Whiting,  "  Give  me  a  moment  or  two, 
Mr.  President,  to  get  my  impudence  up."  Now  it  would  be  no 
use  to  give  our  brother  time  for  this.  He  could  not  do  it  if  we 
should  give  him  the  next  quarter  of  a  century.  But  to  enable  the 
witness  to  recover  his  self-possession,  and  become  a  little  familiar- 
ized with  the  court-room,  court,  and  jury,  —  or  rather,  to  give  our 
friend  a  moment  to  get  his  "  platform  legs  "  on,  —  I  will  read  a 
letter  from  another  friend  of  our  pastor,  and  friend  of  us  all,  — 


62 


whose  piety  and  learning  will  ever  secure  to  him  that  love  and  es- 
teem which  advancing  years  have  only  strengthened  and  increased. 
Mr.  Russell  then  read  a  letter  from  Rev.  William  Jenks,  D.  D., 
and  said,  I  now  call  the  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting  of  Providence,  and 
request  him,  without  further  interrogatory  from  me,  to  state  what 
he  knows  relative  to  the  matter  now  in  hearing,  and  "  as  fully  and 
particularly  as  if  specially  interrogated  thereto." 

Mr.  Whiting  testified  as  follows  :  — 

It  has  been  said  that  there  are  three  culminating  points  in  every 
completed  career.  That  when  young  manhood  is  best  prepared  to 
begin  public  life,  where  preparation  ripens,  the  blossom  drops  off, 
and  the  fruit  sets  ;  next,  the  matured,  perfected  power  of  mid-life  ; 
and  finally,  where  decline  and  decay  of  that  power  begin. 

In  the  first  of  these,  said  he,  I  had  a  memorable  and  grateful 
experience  with  him  whom  we  honor  this  evening.  I  came  here 
for  purposes  of  study,  in  my  twentieth  year ;  and  as  a  hearer,  and 
through  very  kind  personal  attentions  from  him,  came  under  a 
power,  till  then  unfelt.  It  was  the  almost  magic  interpenetration 
and  minute  process  in  presenting  divine  truth.  In  a  seat  yonder, 
I  remember  sitting  through  many  sermons,  half  entranced  at  the 
exquisite  delicacy  of  the  evolution  and  insideness  of  the  views. 
My  education  had  been  in  the  usual  apparent  and  outward  views 
common  to  the  topics  of  the  pulpit.  Here,  and  in  many  walks 
and  conversations,  interior,  and  hitherto  hidden  views,  gave  me  a 
new  —  and  as  I  esteem  it  —  a  crisis  impulse  to  my  mind.  Until 
this  day  I  gratefully  own  the  priceless  impulse  and  aid  given  to 
me  at  that  peculiar  period  of  my  preparatory  career,  and  I  am 
glad  of  this  opportunity  publicly  to  thank  you  [turning  to  Dr.  A.] 
for  a  service  I  shall  carry  the  impulse  of  through  life. 

Shall  I  be  intrusive  in  recalling  a  personal  reminiscence,  con- 


63 


necting  the  pastor  and  my  life  here :  —  On  a  sunny  morning  in 
spring,  when  a  few  birds  were  venturing  to  try  the  first  notes  of 
their  wonted  songs,  you,  sir — Deacon  Farwell, —  came  to  my 
room,  in  the  house  of  a  mother  in  this  Israel,  and  said  the  pastor 
was   quite   ill,  and   could  not  attend   the   "morning  meeting," 

—  then  and  for  a  season  held  before  the  public  service,  —  and  I 
must  take  his  place !  Of  course  I  could  do  no  such  thing ;  but 
you — younger  than  now  —  resorted,  fraternally,  to  the  imperative 
mood ;  and  I,  seizing  a  scrap  of  paper,  pencilled  the  outline  of  a 
brief  discourse,  or  course  of  remarks,  and  from  them  addressed 

—  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  —  an  assembly,  from  a  single  text. 
My  search  in  a  collection  marked  "  curiosities,"  has  just  been  re- 
warded by  finding  the  identical  "  notes  "  [which  he  held  up].  I 
beg  nobody  will  ask  to  see  them.  I  am  pleasingly  surprised  to 
find  that  morning  was  just  nineteen  years  ago  next  Sabbath. 

Mr.  Chairman,  —  If  any  ask  why  such  an  occasion  as  this  moves 
our  hearts  with  unusual  interest,  may  we  not  mention  the  record 
kept  by  the  Spirit  of  Inspiration  concerning  our  blessed  Lord,  — 
"  And  he  came  to  Nazareth,  where  he  had  been  brought  up." 

The  letters  read  by  Mr.  Russell  from  President  Stearns,  and 
Rev.  Dr.  Jenks,  and  other  letters,  —  some  of  them  of  a  date  sub- 
sequent to  the  anniversary,  —  are  as  follows  :  — 

Amherst  College,  12th  April,  1860. 
My  dear  Sir,  —  I  have  yours  of  Feb.  25th,  and  am  pleased 
to  learn  from  it  that  you  are  intending  to  commemorate  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  our  Rev.  Bro.  Albro's  pastorate  amon» 
you.  If  ministerial  fidelity,  unpretending  piety,  ability  in  preach- 
ing, wisdom  in  affairs,  largeness  of  heart,  and  persistent  devotion 
to  his  people,  entitle  a  man  to  such  a  notice,  it  is  certainly  de- 
served in  the  present  case.     It  was  my  privilege  to  labor,  side  by 


64 


side,  with  him  in  the  service  of  the  gospel  for  many  years.  I 
always  found  in  him  a  ready  helper ;  a  warm,  faithful,  and  sym- 
pathizing friend.  In  the  public  schools  of  Cambridge,  in  the 
Sabbath  Schools  of  our  religious  connection,  in  ministerial  asso- 
ciations, councils,  etc.,  his  influence  has  been  efficient  and  salutary. 
In  the  midst  of  a  community  of  different  theological  views  from 
his  own,  I  have  often  admired  in  him  his  unflinching  faithfulness 
in  the  statement  of  his  opinions,  in  connection  with  his  courteous- 
ness  of  manner  towards  those  who  dissented  from  them. 

The  importance  of  such  a  commemoration  as  you  propose  seems 
greatly  increased  when  we  consider  the  instability  of  the  times, 
especially  in  reference  to  pastoral  relations.  It  speaks  well  both 
for  minister  and  people  when,  in  a  community  where  short  settle- 
ments are  rather  the  rule  than  the  exception,  the  pastor  and  his 
flock  continue  happily  together  for  so  long  a  period  as  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  I,  certainly,  for  one,  thank  Dr.  Albro  and  the 
church  and  society  over  which  he  presides,  for  the  example  of 
stability,  steadfastness,  and  Christian  love,  which  in  their  pro- 
tracted connection,  they  have  thus  given  to  the  world.    .    .    . 

Hoping  that  our  beloved  brother  may  live  and  be  useful  till 
even  another  quarter  of  a  century  is  ended,  I  am,  my  dear  sir, 

Yours  most  cordially, 

W.  A  STEARNS. 

Charles  Theodore  Russell,  Esq. 

Boston,  April  17,  1860. 

Rev.  and  dear  Brother  in  Christ,  —  I  was  gratified  to 
receive,  yesterday,  an  invitation  from  your  committee  to  attend 
the  proposed  meeting  of  to-morrow  evening.  Sincerely  do  I  con- 
gratulate your  people  and  yourself  that  your  ministry  among 
them  has  been  prolonged  to  such  a  number  of  years  —  a  rare 
thing,  now-a-days. 

They  are  wise,  I  think,  in  keeping  a  "jubilee  "  at  a  quarter 


65 


of  a  century,  instead  of  waiting  for  the  half  of  one  to  transpire, 
—  so  have  the  Ecclesiastical  Court  of  Rome  done,  I  believe, 
repeatedly,  —  and  I  should  be  glad  to  be  present  at  the  cele- 
bration, but  the  state  of  my  health  will  not  allow  of  the  expos- 
ure. 

God  grant  you,  my  dear  brother,  to  fill  up,  with  your  people, 
at  least  the  twenty-five  years  that  remain  to  a  regular,  old- 
fashioned  jubilee  !     So  prays 

Yours,  affectionately,  for  the  gospel's  sake, 

WILLIAM  JENKS. 

Kev.  Dr.  Albro. 

Boston,  April  17,  1860. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  thank  you  for  the  polite  invitation  to  join  in 
the  services  of  to-morrow  evening,  in  commemoration  of  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  your  pastor,  Rev. 
Dr.  Albro.  Be  assured  it  would  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  join 
my  congratulations  with  yours  on  this  interesting  occasion,  did 
my  circumstances  allow  it.  Be  assured  of  my  deep  sympathy 
and  thankfulness  that  God  has  given  and  continued  to  you  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  such  an  able  and  faithful  pastor,  to  replace 
one  of  equal  worth.  I  hope  my  agency  in  plucking  him  from 
you,  has  been  forgiven.  That  you  may  long  enjoy  the  ministra- 
tions of  your  beloved  and  excellent  pastor,  is  the  prayer  of 

Your  friend  and  servant, 

JOHN  TAPPAN. 

Hon.  S.  T.  Fakwell,  Chairman  of  Committee. 

Wednesday,  April  18,  1860. 
My  dear  Br.  —  I  did  not  know  any  thing  of  the  interest- 
ing  occasion  for   this    evening,  commemorative    of  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  your  pastorate,  in  Cambridge,  until  yester- 
day, —  through  the  Hon.  Mr.  Farwell. 
I   regret  that  my  recent  return  after   an   absence  of  three 

9 


66 


weeks  from  my  duties,  —  with  the  incidental  engagements  it  has 
produced,  must  prevent  me  from  being  present ;  unless  it  may 
be  possible  for  me  to  obtain  a  short  time  in  the  course  of  the 
evening,  for  a  somewhat  hurried  visit  to  you. 

Praying  for  your  present  and  future  happiness  and  useful- 
ness, I  am, 

Sincerely  yours, 

G.  W.  BLAGDEN. 

Kev.  Dr.  Albro. 

Cambridge,  April  16,  1860. 

Dear  Sir, —  Please  accept  my  thanks  for  the  honor  of  an 
invitation  to  be  present  at  the  services  on  the  interesting  occa- 
sion of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  your 
esteemed  pastor. 

Be  assured  it  would  afford  me  the  highest  gratification  to 
be  present,  but  important  business  of  the  city,  to  come  before 
the  Board  on  that  evening,  will,  I  regret  to  say,  compel  me  to 
forego  the  privilege  and  pleasure. 

With  great  respect,  yours  truly, 

JAMES  D.  GREEN. 

Hon.  S.  T.  Farwell,  Chairman  of  the  Committee. 

Cambridge,  April  17,  1860. 
Dear  Sir,  —  It  would  give  me  much  pleasure  to  accept 
your  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  commemoration  of  Dr. 
Albro's  settlement  over  your  society,  both  for  the  interest  of 
the  occasion  itself,  and  out  of  respect  to  your  valued  pastor,  if 
a  previous  college  engagement  did  not  put  it  entirely  out  of  my 
power. 

With  thanks  for  your  civil  attention, 

I  am  respectfully  yours, 

H.  W.  TORREY. 

Hon.  S.  T.  Farwell. 


67 


Boylston  Centre,  April  16,  1860. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Your  card  of  invitation  to  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  Dr.  Albro's  settlement  in  Cambridge,  has  just 
come  to  hand.  I  regret  exceedingly,  that  it  will  not  be  in  my 
power  to  be  present,  as  the  Worcester  Central  Conference  of 
churches,  meet  with  us  at  the  very  time,  meeting  Wednesday 
and  Thursday  of  this  week.  Wednesday  evening,  we  are  to  have 
a  discussion  on  Tract  Distribution,  when  it  is  expected  I  shall 
make  a  report  on  the  subject,  as  now  in  progress,  among  our 
people.  I  feel  sadly  disappointed  that  I  cannot  be  with  you  on 
such  a  pleasing  occasion,  and  doubly  so,  as  I  was  not  able  to  be 
with  you,  on  a  late  Sabbath  school  anniversary.  Give  my  best 
regards  and  kindest  wishes  to  your  highly  respected  pastor,  with 
the  hope  he  may  live  to  see  yet  another  quarter  century  in 
his  pastorate,  and  so  be  able  to  hold  the  still  more  important 
anniversary  of  half  century,  but  if  so,  I  cannot  now  promise  to 
be  there,  but  "  Deo  Volente"  it  may  be  so. 

Thanking  you,  most  sincerely,  for  your  kind  invitation  to 
your  anniversary,  and  again  most  deeply  regretting  my  inability 
to  be  with  you,  I  remain, 

Most  truly  yours, 

DANIEL  WIGHT,  Jr. 

Hon.  S.  T.  Farwell. 

P.  S.  —  I  was  present  at  Dr.  Albro's  installation,  and  was 
between  two  and  three  years  under  his  ministry,  mingling  in 
his  social,  as  well  as  public  services,  and  being  thus  with  him  and 
you  also,  in  those  early  days  of  your  weakness  and  trial,  I 
should  be  most  happy  to  be  with  you  again,  at  the  end  of  so 
important  a  period,  and  hear  the  venerable  Dr.  rehearse  the 
whole  story  of  his  sojourn,  in  a  position  so  important  and  honor- 
able, beside  our  noble  University,  my  "Alma  Mater,"  and  see 
what  lessons  of  wisdom  may  be  developed  from  such  rich  expe- 


68 


rience.  Should  the  sermon  be  published,  with  other  documents, 
pertaining  to  the  occasion,  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  receive  a 
copy,  at  almost  any  price. 

D.  W.,  Jr. 

Cambridge,  April  18,  1860. 
Dear  Sir,  —  I  thank  you  for  your  polite  attention  in 
extending  to  me,  in  behalf  of  the  committee  of  the  Shepard 
Congregational  Church  and  Society,  an  invitation  to  attend  the 
commemorative  services  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the 
settlement  of  their  esteemed  pastor.  Though  unable  to  avail 
myself  of  your  friendly  invitation,  I  beg  you  will  accept  the 
assurances  of  my  great  respect ;  and  with  my  fervent  prayers 
for  the  best  blessings   upon  both   pastor   and   people, 

I  remain, 

Very  truly  yours, 

NICHOLAS  HOPPIN. 
Hon.  S.  T.  Fakwell,  Chairman. 

Tuesday,  April  17,  18G0. 
My  dear  Sir,  —  I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  kind  invi- 
tation to  be  present  at  the  celebration  of  Dr.  Albro's  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  to-morrow  night,  which  I  should  accept  with  much 
pleasure,  were  I  not  going  into  the  country  to  spend  a  few  days. 
I  am  very  sorry  to  miss  the  opportunity  of  paying  my  respects 
to  Dr.  Albro,  and  of  joining  in  the  congratulations  of  his  many 
friends. 

Ever  yours  faithfully, 

F.  J.  CHILD. 

Hon.  S.  T.  Far-well. 

Eastport,  April  19,  1860. 
Dear  Sir,  —  I  received  your  note  on  Tuesday,  too  late  to  get 
to  Cambridge  in  season,  but  even  had  I  received  it  earlier  I  could 


69 


not  have  come.  To  have  been  present  at  our  beloved  pastor's 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  would  have  been  a  great  pleasure,  and 
I  shall  be  interested  to  read  what  was  said  and  done.  In  these 
changing  days  such  celebrations  are  quite  rare.  May  his  health 
and  usefulness  be  continued  many  a  year  to  come. 

Yours  truly, 

S.  D.  HOSMER. 
Hon.  Stephen  T.  Farwell. 


Lunenburgh,  Vt.,  April  19,  1860. 
Gentlemen,  —  Your  polite  note  of  the  9th  inst.  has  just  come 
to  hand,  informing  me  of  the  approaching  quarter-century  anni- 
versary of  our  dear  pastor's  settlement   at  Cambridge,  and    in- 
viting me  to  be  present  on  that  occasion. 

Be  assured  that,  were  it  consistent,  nothing  could  give  me 
greater  pleasure  than  to  accept  your  invitation.  But  my  duties 
as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  which  my  pastor  so  clearly  and  forci- 
bly impressed  upon  me  five  years  ago  in  his  solemn  charge,  given 
from  the  same  sacred  spot  where,  ten  years  before,  he  stood  and 
received  me  as  a  member  of  Christ's  visible  church  ;  these  duties 
to  my  own  people  must  serve  as  my  apology  for  declining. 

May  the  divine  favor  always  rest  upon  God's  faithful  servant, 
and  may  it  please  the  Great  Husbandman  long  to  continue  this 
church  under  his  watch  and  care,  and  to  make  it  ever,  as  hereto- 
fore, a  thriving  and  fruitful  vine  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  —  sending 
forth  vigorous  and  fruitful  branches  which  shall  bless  the  world. 
With  sincere  thanks  for  your  kind  invitation,  I  remain, 
Gentlemen, 

Truly  your  Friend  and  Brother, 

WILLIAM  SEWALL. 
Hon.  S.  T.  Farwell, 


70 


A  letter  was  also  received  from  Rev.  William  Newell,  D.  D., 
after  the  celebration,  in  answer  to  the  following  from  the  Chair- 
man of  the    Committee : 

Cambridge,  April  21,  1860. 

Dear  Sir, — I  have  just  heard,  very  much  to  my  surprise 
and  regret,  that  you  did  not  receive  an  invitation  to  the  ser- 
vices on  Wednesday  evening,  the  18th  inst.,  in  commemoration 
of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  Rev.  Dr.  Albro's  settlement. 
I  feel  sure  that  one  was  prepared  and  sent  through  the  post- 
office.  How  it  should  have  failed  to  reach  you,  I  cannot  imag- 
ine. One  of  the  earliest  votes  of  the  committee  of  arrangements 
was  to  invite  all  the  settled  clergymen  of  Cambridge,  and  cards 
of  invitation  were  accordingly  sent  to  all.  If  there  was  a  failure 
in  any  instance,  as  it  seems  there  was  in  respect  to  yourself,  I 
beg  you  to  believe  it  was  an  oversight  and  not  intentional.  It 
is  too  late,  I  know,  to  repair  the  omission  so  far  as  the  celebra- 
tion, —  which  is  in  the  past,  —  is  concerned  ;  but  may  I  not  hope 
that,  with  these  explanations  you  will  consider  yourself  as  having 
been  invited,  —  in  spirit  at  least,  —  as  the  committee  by  their  vote 
intended,  and  by  their  subsequent  acts  supposed  you  were  ac- 
tually invited. 

Again  expressing  my  regrets  that  this  omission  should  have 
occurred,  —  the  more  because  this  part  of  the  arrangement  was 
largely  under  my  care  and  supervision,  and  with  assurances  of 

my  high  regard, 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  yours  very  truly, 

S.  T.  FARWELL. 

P.  S.  —  I  enclose  a  card  of  invitation  like  the  one  you 
would  have  received,  but  for  the  unfortunate  oversight  happen- 
ing at  some  point,  I  know  not  where. 

S.  T.  F. 

Rev.  William  Newell,  D.  D. 


71 


Cambridge,  April  21,  1860. 

Dear  Sir, —  I  thank  you  for  your  courteous  and  satisfac- 
tory note.  I  accept  with  much  pleasure  the  kind  invitation, 
received  with  it  this  evening,  to  attend  the  celebration  on 
Wednesday  evening  last,  of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Albro's  settlement  in  Cambridge.  Please  present  to 
the  committee  of  arrangements,  of  which  you  are  chairman,  my 
acknowledgments  of  their  courtesy. 

I  will  do  all  I  can,  under  the  circumstances,  to  enjoy  the  boun- 
tiful hospitalities  of  the  occasion,  and  to  express  my  respect  for 
your  faithful  and  able  pastor,  with  whom,  during  the  whole  period 
of  his  ministry,  my  personal  relations,  notwithstanding  our  theo- 
logical differences,  have  always  been  pleasant  and  friendly.  I 
hope  you  will  accept  the  will  for  the  deed. 

I  confess  it  is  a  little  tantalizing  to  think  of  all  the  good 
things,  the  spiritual  dainties,  as  well  as  creature  comforts,  which  I 
have  so  unfortunately  missed.  I  am  very  sorry,  too,  to  have  lost 
the  opportunity  of  manifesting,  as  far  as  could  be  done  by  my 
presence  on  an  occasion  of  so  much  interest  to  your  people, 
the  kindly  feeling  which  I  hope  will  always  subsist,  not  only 
between  your  pastor  and  myself,  but  also  between  the  societies 
with  Avhich  we  are  connected ;  branches  as  they  are  of  the  same 
old  stock,  descended  from  the  same  old  congregational  family, 
looking  back,  amidst  their  honest  differences  of  opinion,  with  com- 
mon pride  to  a  common  ancestry.  I  trust  we  shall  ever  dwell 
together  in  that  "  unity  of  the  spirit "  which  is  better  than 
unity  of  creed,  as  charity  is  greater  than  faith  and  hope.  I 
remain,  dear  Sir, 

With  great  regard, 
Yours  truly, 

WILLIAM  NEWELL. 

Hon.  S.  T.  Farwell. 


72 


The  following  hymn,  written  by  the  late  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes, 
D.  D.,  on  the  occasion  of  the  installation  of  Rev.  J.  A.  Albro, 
April  15,  1835,  was  then  sung  by  the  congregation : 

[Tune,  Evan.] 
Great  God  !  thou  heard'st  our  fathers'  prayer, 

When,  o'er  the  ocean  brought, 
They,  with  a  patriarchal  care, 

A  sanctuary  sought. 

Hither  thy  guidance  led  their  feet,  — 

Here  was  their  first  abode ; 
And  here,  where  now  their  children  meet, 

They  found  a  place  for  God. 

Thy  flock,  Immanuel,  here  was  fed, 

In  pastures  green  and  fair, 
Beside  still  waters  gently  led, 

And  thine  the  shepherd's  care. 

That  care  two  hundred  years  attest ; 

Thy  seal  is  still  the  same : 
To  every  bosom  be  it  pressed, 

'Graved  with  thy  precious  name. 

Here  may  the  Church  thy  cause  maintain, 

Thy  truth  with  peace  and  love, 
Till  her  last  earth-born  live  again 

With  the  first-born  above. 

O  glorious  change  !     From  conflict  free, 

The  Church,  —  no  danger  nigh, 
From  militant  on  earth,  shall  be 

Triumphant  in  the  sky ! 


The  pastor  of  the  church,  Rev.  Dr.  Albro,  then  made  the  con- 
cluding address  as  follows :  — 


A  few  years  ago  I  did  not  expect  to  witness  an  occasion  like 
this,  and  but  a  few  days  since  I  did  not  dream  that,  if  I  should  live 
to  complete  my  twenty-fifth  anniversary,  such  public  notice  would 
have  been  taken  of  it.  It  has  been  the  great  object  of  my  ministry 
and  of  my  life,  to  feed  the  flock  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has 
made  me  overseer,  satisfied,  if  the  Master  who  searches  the  heart 
and  knows  all  my  works,  the  last  as  well  as  the  first,  was  satisfied 
with  me.  Certainly  it  has  never  been  my  desire  or  my  object  to 
be  rewarded  by  a  demonstration  like  this.  And  now  that  I  see  this 
gathering  of  my  people  and  my  friends  to  do  me  honor,  I  hardly 
know  what  to  say.  I  sincerely  thank  the  church  and  society  for 
what  they  have  done.  I  thank  the  brethren  and  gentlemen  for 
the  kindness  with  which  they  have  spoken  of  me  and  of  my  labors. 
It  is  a  comfort  to  me  now  to  know  that  there  has  been  such  una- 
nimity of  opinion  and  feeling  with  regard  to  my  work  among  those 
whom  I  so  highly  respect,  —  that  I  have  lived  in  so  much  harmony 
with  my  neighbors  of  different  persuasions,  — that  I  can  look  over 
the  past  and  see  no  deep  roots  of  bitterness  in  the  field  that  I  have 
endeavored  to  cultivate,  —  and  that  there  is  no  dark  shadow  lying 
between  the  beginning  of  my  ministry  here  and  this  day. 

My  relations  with  the  University  have  been  not  only  peaceful, 
but  very  pleasant.  I  can  truly  say,  with  Judge  Parker,  that  I 
have  never  witnessed  in  its  government  any  sectarianism, — in  the 
offensive  sense  of  that  word.  The  conduct  of  the  several  Presi- 
dents who  have  been  at  its  head  during  my  residence  here,  and  of 
of  its  professors,  has  been  eminently  courteous  and  kind.  No 
student  belonging  to  the  Orthodox  denomination  has  ever,  to  my 
knowledge,  been  denied  the  privilege  of  choosing  his  own  place  of 
worship,  or  of  attending  upon  my  ministry ;  nor  do  I  believe  that 
any  attempt  has  ever  been  made  by  the  government  of  the  college 
to  interfere  with  the  religious  belief  of  a  single  young  man 
under  their  care.     An  incident  in  my  memory  which,  under  the 

10 


74 


present  circumstances,  it  may  be  proper  for  me  to  repeat  here, 
will  show  the  truth  of  this  statement.  More  than  twenty  years 
ago,  feeling  a  deep  interest  in  those  students  belonging  to  our 
own  denomination,  and  desirous  of  doing  what  I  could  for  the 
promotion  of  their  religious  welfare,  I  proposed  to  form  a  Bible 
class,  that  we  might  together  study  the  New  Testament  in  its  orig- 
inal language.  Not  wishing  to  adopt  any  measure  which  might 
in  any  way  interfere  with  college  rules  or  discipline,  I  waited  upon 
President  Quincy,  and  frankly  told  him  what  I  wished  to  do,  ask- 
ing him  if  he  had  any  objection  to  the  proposed  meeting.  "  My 
dear  sir,"  he  replied,  "no  !  I  wish  you  would  convert  the  whole 
of  them."  And  if  I  heartily  responded  to  his  answer,  —  and  I 
did,  as  I  do  now,  respond  to  it,  —  it  was,  I  trust,  in  no  narrow 
spirit  of  sect  or  of  proselytism.  The  same  kindly  feelings  and 
generous  confidence  have  been  often  manifested  towards  me  and 
my  efforts  in  behalf  of  young  men  here  pursuing  their  education, 
by  Presidents  Everett,  Sparks,  "Walker,  and  Felton,  and  generally 
by  the  officers  of  the  University. 

I  renew  my  thanks  to  those  who  have  spoken  this  evening,  for 
the  manner  in  which  they  have  distinguished  me,  and  to  my  people 
for  the  very  kind  feelings  which  they  have  so  often  and  so  practi- 
cally expressed.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  things  that  have 
been  said  to-night  will  hurt  me.  I  hope  they  will  not.  I  will 
endeavor  to  be  more  worthy  of  them.  I  am  grateful  to  my  con- 
gregation for  their  frequent  and  liberal  contributions  of  temporal 
things,  as  well  as  for  the  far  higher  gift  of  a  long  and  unbroken 
friendship.  "  Not,"  as  the  Apostle  said  to  the  Philippian  church, 
"that  I  speak  in  respect  of  want;  nor  because  I  desire  a  gift; 
but  I  desire  fruit  that  may  abound  to  your  account.  But  I  have 
all,  and  abound  ;  I  am  full,  having  received  the  things  which  were 
sent  from  you,  an  odor  of  a  sweet  smell,  a  sacrifice  acceptable, 
well  pleasing  to  God.     But  my  God  shall  supply  all  your  need, 


75 

according  to  his  riches  in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus."  We  shall  not 
all  meet  at  another  anniversary  like  this ;  but  it  is  my  heart's 
desire  and  prayer  to  God  that  through  the  blood  of  the  everlast- 
ing  covenant,  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  may  all  be 
prepared  to  meet  around  the  throne  of  God,  to  sing  forever  the 
sons  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb. 

After  singing  the  hymn,  "  Lord  dismiss  us  with  thy  blessing," 
etc.,  to  the  tune  of  "  Greenville,"  the  benediction  was  pronounced 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Adams,  and  the  audience  retired  from  the  church  to 
re-assemble  again  in  the  rooms  below,  where  an  hour  was  spent  in 
a  social  interview  and  friendly  greetings. 


It  is  one  of  the  pleasing  incidents  of  the  anniversary,  that  it 
was  made  the  occasion  of  numerous  gifts  from  the  'people  to  their 
pastor.  Some  of  these  were  presented  personally,  and  all  weje 
conveyed  to  him  in  a  quiet  way,  without  public  observation,  —  the 
larger  part  in  value  being  found  by  him  on  his  return  from  the 
public  services.  These  gifts  from  affectionate  friends,  were  ac- 
knowledged by  Dr.  Albro  in  the  following  letter  addressed  to  the 
committee :  — 

Cambridge,  April  19,  1860. 
Dear  Sir,  —  Upon  my  return  to  my  house  from  the  public 
meeting  yesterday  evening,  I  found  a  purse  containing  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  —  many  articles  of  silver  for  the  use  of  my  family, 
—  and  a  number  of  valuable  books  for  my  library,  —  all  contrib- 
uted by  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  church  and  congregation. 
So  quietly  and  secretly  were  these  gifts  conveyed  to  my  resi- 
dence, that  I  should  have  been  surprised  if  I  had  not  long  since 


7G 


learned  not  to  feel  surprise  at  any  kind  or  generous  act  of  my 
people.     Please  to  assure  my  friends  of  my  gratitude  for  their 
affectionate  remembrance,  and  of  my  prayers  that  they  may  be 
abundantly  recompensed  in  the  resurrection  of  the  just. 
Very  respectfully  and  affectionately  yours, 

J.  A.  ALBRO. 
Hon.  S.  T.  Farwell,  Chairman  of  Committee. 


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Commemoration  of  the  twenty-fifth 

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